Dreams and Ideas
by Shadow Master
Summary: These are a collection of fanfic crossover ideas that my admittingly warped imagination has come up with. For the most part this is to satisfy the plot bunnies but if you see a drabbleshortetc that you think deserves to be made into a full fanfic let me k
1. Chapter 1

"Dreams and Ideas" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email : ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I wish it known here that none of the various TV shows, Movies, comic books, books or video games featured in these drabbles are my property and I am making no profit off of them whatsoever. Therefore it would be greatly appreciated if those who do own the forms of media mentioned above would refrain from filing lawsuits and whatnot against me since I do not have enough money to satisfy you.

Note: I decided to start these drabble fanfic for two reasons: 1) Many of the authors whose works I enjoy have done at least one set of drabbles and 2) It's a way to satisfy the plot bunnies that keep popping up as well as giving you the readers a chance to help me decide which drabbles to turn into full blown fan fictions and which I should forget about. Keep in mind though that if any of these drabbles/shorts end up warrant upgrading into a full fanfic it will have to wait until at least **some** of my currently in progress fanfics are completed. Also if any of these drabbles strikes your fancy enough that you want to write your own fanfic based on that drabble I hereby give you permission to do so as long as I am mentioned in the Disclaimer/Note portion of the fanfic.

Note 2: Also if a drabble receives sufficient votes/reviews/emails to warrant it being made into a full-blown fanfic then I will be looking for beta readers. If you believe yourself capable of beta reading that winning drabble then email me. Please keep in mind that you must be knowledgeable of both BtVS and the show/movie/comic/book/game it is crossed over with in order to qualify.

Dreams and Ideas 

_LotR Trilogy/BtVS_

_Official title still pending (and I will take suggestions)_

"Wake up Alexander!" came a far off voice that was quite familiar to him.

"Five more minutes…" he mumbled as he rolled away from the bothersome person who dared to interrupt his sleep.

"Fine. If you do not wish to be awake to meet your lady love when she arrives then it is you who will have to deal with her wrath." Replied the voice that in a matter of moments Xander recognized as Elladan as he shot up in his bed.

"She's here! Well why didn't you say so earlier!" he exclaimed as he jumped out of his bed wearing only his leggings and nothing else and began to race about his room to get dressed.

"I tried but you were snoring like a Dwarf so it is likely you did not hear me until I raised my voice to a bellow." Elladan replied as one half of the Twin Terrors of Rivendell watched his adoptive brother race about the room.

Xander grumbled as he finally picked out a shirt that he thought would be suitable when greeting the most important woman in his life at the moment. He knew he couldn't prove it but he was sure the trickster brother of his had waited **on purpose** until the last possible second before entering his room to tell him of the incoming arrival. It had been a little over twenty years since he had become a member of the family and yet he could remember how it had happened as though it were yesterday. It had been Valentine's day in Sunnydale, California and he had just been officially dumped by Cordelia in front of the entire school. For a time he had been tempted to give into his rage, his anger at the injustice of it all, and try to formulate some kind of revenge on Queen C. However a whisper of reason had stayed his hand and so he had simply gone home to mope in his bedroom alone. The truth of it was that he had been expecting something like that from the moment they first started dating. She was the rich Queen C and he was Xander Harris son of the town drunks. He should have known that sooner or later their respective statuses would tear their relationship apart. Nevertheless his feelings for her had been genuine and so in the aftermath of their break up his heart hurt worse than anything he could remember.

Then **he** had shown up.

Xander had known from the beginning that he wasn't human or at least had abilities far above those of ordinary humans. Even in the midst of his sorrow he had had enough wits to know not to trust this person and so strove to ignore him. However that only lasted so long and after a few sympathetic and consoling words the man/demon asked him one thing: 'If you could wish for anything what would it be?'. The temptation for revenge reared its head again but only for a moment before it faded away and was replaced with his heart's desire.

"I wish I could go someplace where I could be judged on what was inside my soul and any love I found would last forever."

With a shift into a demonic looking Crypt Keeper face and a 'done!' response the world either winked out of sight or he had lost consciousness. When he had woken up it had been to an unfamiliar face of a man that if the ears had been any indication was a closet Star Trek fan. It had taken the elf, Lord Elrond specifically, a moment to calm him down after the usual Sunnydale paranoia told him to look for a weapon but when he did settle down everything was explained to him. Apparently he had been discovered on the shores of river Bruinen, naked, and had been brought to the house of the Lord of Rivendell. Naturally he had not been happy about being found in the same state he had been born in and was only slightly comforted by the fact that Elrond had known he was not of their world. He had been transported by dark magic to a place called Middle Earth with nothing to call his own. Elrond had graciously offered to let him stay with his family for as long as he desired and stated that he would endeavor to help him adapt to his new circumstances. Given that the former Zeppo hadn't had any other options he had decided to go along with things for the time being.

_Should have known things were going too smoothly._ He thought as he pulled on a tunic.

It had been about a week after his arrival that the biggest shock of all had made his presence known when after being pranked by the twins Elladan and Elrohir he had gone to a nearby waterfall to wash the gunk out of his hair. It had been then when he had been combing through his hair with his fingers that he had felt two pointy things on either side of his head. At first he had thought that it was simply more junk a la Elladan but when all other parts of his head had been washed clean and the pointy things had remained he knew something was amiss. A few steps away from the churning water at the bottom of the waterfall and taking a moment to get down on his hands and knees later he received a shock that almost matched the one he had received when he had woken up in this land. He had **pointy** ears! **POINTY EARS**! Naturally he had gone straight to Elrond, Middle Earth's version of G-Man, to find out what the hell was happening only to find out Elrond had known from the beginning.

Apparently, after a few moments of confusion between them, he found out that he had been transformed into an elf. He still looked for the most part like he had when he was human but now had some additional features only found in the Elven race. When he had been found it had been presumed he had been born an elf and that was why it had never been brought up and when the days had passed without him saying anything they figured their presumption had been confirmed. Now that they had a more accurate view of things Elrond had gone into an explanation of what the Elves were and their more important attributes. For one they were immortal in the sense that they didn't die of old age or sickness but could be killed if something sharp and pointy was introduced to the torso. They were an arm and a leg above most other races in terms of physical abilities and some were apparently gifted with something called The Sight which actually was a smug way of saying they could see into the future and gain insight into the present. While it appeared he had most of those things right off the bat it wasn't until just recently that he had The Sight. When it had been discovered Elrond had sent him to a place called Lothlorien to be trained by his mother-in-law Galandriel in how to make sense of the things he saw.

It had been there that he had first seen her.

_It had been like my first time seeing Buffy all over again._ He thought as he strapped his sword to his side, _Except without the embarrassing fall and the painful concrete._

It had been during one of his lessons with the Lady Galandriel that she had appeared, blonde hair and dressed in a wine red dress/coat thing with poofy white sleeves showing at the wrists, with a report on some scouting mission. They had locked eyes only briefly but it had been like a bolt of energy had passed back and forth between the two of them. A slight smirk on Galandriel's face a few moments later told him she had noticed this and was amused. Naturally he had immediately tried to reroute things back into learning how to harness The Sight but the smirk never left the Lady of the Wood's face the entire lesson. In the years that passed between then and now he and the she-elf that had caught his eye began to 'bump' into each other with increasing frequency. He had suspected then as he did today that a certain blonde queen had something to do with that but he gradually began to forget about that pesky little detail and enjoy the results. Over time acquaintance had changed into friendship and from friendship into love of the sort that made what he had experienced with Cordy pale in comparison. When he looked into her eyes the world around him faded away into nothingness and all his troubles seemed light as feathers if he noticed them at all. It had been after their first kiss that he knew he had found the one he wished to be bound to for all eternity.

_If it wasn't for this war brewing we'd be making wedding plans instead of war plans. _He thought as he left his room heading towards the courtyard with Elladan following from behind, _Stupid Sauron!_

That had been the biggest obstacle between he and his love making things permanent and tying the knot officially in front of all their friends and family. With his frequent travels with the Twins of Rivendell and her being one of Galandriel's favorite scouts duty almost always forced them to put wedding plans on hold for the time being. Neither of them liked it and because she was female his wife-to-be was particularly pissed about it all. That was why visits like these were so precious to them and why they made sure to make them memorable enough to sustain them until next time. Nothing too intense though as it would clash with the ruler of the realm's sense of decency and propriety but close enough that it satisfied them both.

_I promise to you my love before all of Middle Earth and to the Valar that when this war is over we shall be joined for all eternity._ He thought as the courtyard finally came into sight and he briskly trotted down the steps to meet his heart.

Seconds passed by and for a moment he feared that this was some joke in poor taste conceived by the twins but then he heard the familiar clip-clops of horse feet and his suspicions faded away. Then she passed through the archway on her pure white horse and suddenly all was right with the world and nothing else mattered but the two of them. She was accompanied by two other Elves from Lothlorien though he couldn't remember their names right off the bat. They were probably some of Haldir's best given how fond Galandriel was of her and the fact that she was the official messenger between Lorien and Rivendell. She brought her horse to a stop in front of him and with a quick dismount and a quick hop they were locked in a loving embrace kissing passionately enough that her escorts and Elladan were probably desperately trying to restrain their diverse reactions.

"It is wonderful to see you again meleth." She said after they were both forced to come up for air.

"Likewise Lady Idrial although with a kiss like that a guy might think you wanted more than just to see me." He said with his own unique lopsided smile and humor in his voice.

"All in good time Alexander, all in good time." Idrial said with a light smack on his right shoulder in playful retaliation for his witty words.

"If you are quite done making a spectacle of yourselves I believe Adar is waiting for his message from Lady Galandriel." Elladan said after a fake cough to get their attention.

They were only embarrassed for a moment before they looked each other in the eye and walked up the steps towards Elrond's study as though the steamy action they had just took part in was perfectly natural. Idrial's escorts and Elladan shook their heads in disbelief and wondered how long it would be before they heard the Lord of the valley yelling at the top of his lungs about proper behavior for Elves.


	2. Men are from Earth you women are from?

_Sailor Moon/BtVS crossover drabble_

"_Men are from Earth, you women are from **where**!" _

_(tentative title, subject to change, suggestions welcome)_

"Yeah Giles. I checked out that place you wanted me to and it looks like it'll do alright." Xander said as he exited the front door of an abandoned mansion, "Just needs a few touch ups here and there to bring it up to code then Willow can use her mojo on the place to make it Council friendly."

"Excellent. With the demonic community beginning a counterattack of sorts against the sudden rise in Slayers it is essentially that those called in Japan have a branch of the Council to support them in their struggle." Giles replied sounding quite relieved that the matter of location in the country had been settled on.

It had been something both he and the G-Man had been expecting ever since Willow had first cast the spell using the scythe to awaken every potential in the world. Like the Watcher of the old order he knew that the world worked on a system of balances the most important being the balance between good and evil. There was a reason why evil was never completely eliminated and good always seemed to catch a break just in the nick of time and it wasn't due to some higher or lower beings. The balance between the light and the dark was hardwired into the universe to prevent it from being destroyed since that would be the result if good or evil ever succeeded in wiping out the other. While he was sure the rest of the gang knew that there'd be some retaliation from the demons of the world he doubted very much they knew how massive the payback would be. For the Slayer population to go from two to well over two hundred would mean some massive metaphorical counterweights being added to the side of evil to balance things out.

_Which means we have to get our act together sooner rather than later._ He thought as he walked down the street towards a newspaper vending machine.

"Definitely. So I'll stick around until the usual compliment of neo-Watchers show up to take charge then head back your way." He said since he was eager to get back and see the gang again.

"Y-yes… well… that might not be such a good idea Xander." Giles said with reluctance and concern in his voice.

"What's the what G-Man?" Xander asked knowing that the elder Watcher only stuttered like that when he was upset.

"It would seem a secret of yours has come out here at the main branch of the new Council." Giles replied as he tried to steel himself, "Apparently when Willow and Buffy were together reminiscing about old times the topic of the Acathla affair came up and… well… the mission Willow had assigned you at the hospital was told."

"Damn." Xander muttered as he could just imagine the reaction the blonde Slayer would have to his substituting 'stall Angel' with 'kick his butt'.

"Quite. Naturally she is in a very foul mood where you are concerned and has taken to venting her feelings on anyone who speaks your name or reminds her of you." Giles stated agreeing with the one-eyed carpenter's appraisal of the situation, "Therefore I think it would be in your best interests to remain in Japan for awhile until her temper blows over."

"By 'awhile' you mean a couple of years don't you?" Xander asked as he figured it would take about that long for his blonde buddy's temper to cool off.

"Yes. Therefore I am making you the head Watcher for the Japanese branch of the Council." Giles replied believing his surrogate son's estimate was accurate, "While there are quite few recruits to replace those Watchers lost in the battle with the First none of them have your experience battling the supernatural. It needn't be permanent of course, once you have suitably trained one of your new subordinates he or she can take over the position if you so desire."

"Well I guess I cou—" Xander began to reply but he was cut off by Giles before he could say more.

"Splendid. I'll have my assistant make all the arrangements and have your new position entered into the Council's records." Giles said obviously trying to get everything he had to say out quickly before the new head of the Japan branch could react, "The new Watchers should all be there inside of two months and the Japanese Slayers will arrive about three to four weeks after that. Good luck Xander! I know you'll do me proud!"

With that there was a click clearly stating that one Rupert Giles had hung up on him without giving him any chance to finish his sentence much less argue the older man's decision. A little annoyed he hit the redial button on his phone but when he put his cell to his ear all he got was the annoying busy signal that was universally present in all telephones. Pacing back and forth over the next few minutes he tried five more times with varying amounts of minutes between attempts to get Giles on the phone but to no avail. Grumbling he snapped his cell phone shut a little harder than was necessary and headed in the direction of the newspaper vending machine. Obviously the tweed wearing Watcher had planned this conversation from the moment Buffy started to go on a rampage and knew the former Zeppo well enough to take his phone off the hook immediately after hanging up on him. He knew he could try Willow or maybe Faith but that would risk calling them while Buffy was in the room and she'd probably burn out the phone with her ranting session.

_Guess I got no choice but to accept that I'm stuck in the land of the rising sun for the next few years._ Xander thought with a sigh as he slipped the correct amount of change into the vending machine, _That means a job and a place to stay until the mansion is repaired and remodeled enough to support human life._

Despite the removal of the top two thirds of the old Council and the varying amounts of freedom that such an act brought with it the New Council was still stretched rather thin. Not surprising when the original council was only designed to support one Slayer and her Watcher at a time while the various potentials were supported solely on their assigned Watcher's paycheck. As such the Scoobies were more than a little discouraged when they took a look at the sum of the old Council's holdings and compared it to the estimated price of running the New Council. To say that there was a gap would be the mother of all understatements. Thus the New Council's efforts had been split in two: Part A) would focus on creating new and safe ways of generating the necessary funds needed to support over two hundred Slayers and their Watchers while Part B) would do their duty and make the demons of the world duck and cover in terror. It had taken awhile but last he checked there was almost a solid financial base in place and hopefully a year from now the New Council could return the majority of its manpower and resources to saving the world from demonic threats.

So without any money from the Council to support him until the mansion was finished he would have to look for cash and a room the old fashioned way. Pulling out a copy of the Japanese Times he flipped through to the 'WANT' ads in the hopes of finding some sort of job that wasn't bottom of the barrel like a fast food restaurant but not beyond his current abilities either. It was times like these that he really hated that inbred hick of a preacher Caleb for poking out his eye that night at the vineyard. Before then he had been a damn good carpenter with a promising career and a steady paycheck coming in every second week. Now though, with his depth perception gone, the opportunities for employment were at best half of what they'd been before (no pun intended). Taking a red pen from his pocket he began to review the various ads looking for something that combined both what he needed and what he could do without much trouble. Motorcycle mechanic? Nah! He hadn't even been able to keep his Uncle Rory's antique running for very long and even with half the number of wheels a bike would still be impossible. Apprentice cook? Not a chance. If the address for applicants was accurate than the restaurant was both owned and run by a former Iron Fist Tournament champion with something of a short fuse when it came to food. No way was he going to risk getting the crap beat out of him no matter how good the pay looked like on paper.

_Hmmmm. Groundskeeper at Hikawa shrine. Room and food provided._ Xander thought as he read an ad that looked promising, _Must be a hard worker and willing to take on temporary additional duties as needed. Apply in person at 199 Cherry Tree Avenue._

The job seemed to be ideal as it would give him a place to stay as well as a half decent salary if he was reading the bottom of the ad right. Add to that the fact that it was essentially manual labor and didn't exactly require depth perception and there was a good chance he'd get the job. His destination decided he started walking to the nearest bus stop where he hoped to find a map as well as instructions in which buses to take to get to the shrine.

Hikawa Shrine, 199 Cherry Tree Avenue, One Hour Later 

_Wow!_ Xander thought as he looked over the grounds of the shrine he'd be tending if he got the job.

No stranger to holy places the former Zeppo was still amazed at the sight before him as the property before him was definitely a step up from a church or monastery. In all his travels doing various jobs for the Council he had seen many temples, churches and other religious buildings since they were sources of sanctuary against the demons of the world. This however was his first time seeing a Shinto shrine in Japan and he had to say it was a definite step up from the other examples of holy ground he had set foot on. Most of the other examples of holy ground he had been on in the past had seemed cold and harsh to him. This place however had a balance of sorts between the buildings and the vegetation that he found pretty refreshing.

Deciding he'd better find someone who could take him to the head priest so he could apply for the job he looked around the property for any sign of life. It took him two passes but eventually head detected the sounds of someone sweeping just out of sight on the far side of the property. Figuring that was as good a place to start looking as any he headed towards the sound hoping that he hadn't arrived at the shrine only to find that the grounds keeper position had already been filled. As he turned the corner and walked clear of the building that had been blocking his vision from the stairs out front he came upon another perk to the job if he wound up getting hired. Dressed in a standard miko uniform and sweeping leaves into a pile was a young woman of about seventeen or eighteen years of age with long straight black hair and a face that said 'fiery yet calm' to him. Too bad he was at least four or five years older than her otherwise he'd definitely be trying to get up the courage to ask her out later. Since she was a couple of years younger than him though he was immediately fixing her in the 'friend/acquaintance/sister' category before he got too tempted and wound up copying Deadboy.

"Excuse me? Could you tell me where I'd find the head priest?" he asked in barely passable Japanese.

It had been one of the first things he'd done the night he'd arrived in Japan. Using a pair of amulets and a complete English/Japanese dictionary he had managed to 'download' the language into his brain while he slept. However having the knowledge and being able to apply it properly were two completely different things as he learned painfully the first week of his visit. It had only been in the last day or so that he had managed to speak the language properly so he was still a bit rusty around the edges and most definitely had an accent.

"Why do you want to see Grandpa?" the miko asked in a confident but wary voice.

"I'm here about the want ad in the paper for a grounds keeper." Xander replied as he tried to look as non-threatening as possible, "Do you know if the position is still open?"

It felt wrong for his mouth to be speaking so properly and without a trace of Californian slang but the English/Japanese dictionary had only contained the basics. If he wanted to learn some of the more informal and slang oriented aspects of the Japanese language he was going to have to do it on his own. In any case the miko in front of him appeared satisfied by his answer as the wariness in her eyes dispersed.

"It is still available last I checked." The miko replied as she motioned for him to follow her, "I will take you to Grandpa and you can discuss the matter with him. I have to warn you though that he's somewhat… eccentric so please be patient with him."

"Of course." He said not trusting anything else he might say not to offend the young woman.

Five minutes later they entered a large room devoid of any furniture that he recognized with a large fire at the opposite end of the room. Judging from the various ornaments and such arranged around it he guessed it had to be some kind of sacred fire or something. Kneeling in front of it and mumbling what he assumed were prayers of some kind was a tiny old man that looked to be even shorter than Buffy if that was possible. He looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties but likely still had some spring in his step if it was only his granddaughter and him running the place. Mentally he figured the guy was probably a Mr. Miyagi or maybe a Japanese version of Giles in terms of behavior or personality.

The man stopped praying as he likely heard the door open and turned to see who it was that had disturbed him.

"Hey Rei! Who's this? You're new boyfriend?" the man, the miko's grandfather, asked as though he was one of those cliché female gossipmongers.

_So much for my delusions about meeting a wise Japanese priest._ Xander thought as he barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes, _At least he's not like Miroku in that Anime InuYasha._

"NO! Grandpa! He's here about the grounds keeper job!" the miko exclaimed in obvious embarrassment at her grandfather's questions, "You know, the one that Yuichiro botched? The reason we had to let him go?"

"Oh yeah! Well come in, come in!" the head priest replied with sudden recollection but still was jovial and energetic as before, "Sit down and tell me why you think you should be given this job."

"Sure." Xander said glad that the talking was moving onto a safer subject.

One Week Later, Hikawa Shrine, 199 Cherry Tree Avenue, Around Midnight 

_I'm beginning to think that the only place sage Shinto priests exist is in history books and the movies._ Xander thought as he tried once again to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in.

He had gotten the job as grounds keeper within an hour of the start of the interview and had been given a tour of the grounds by the miko whose name he learned was Rei. Along the way she explained the particulars of what he was supposed to do in which spot and how things were supposed to look whenever he completed his assigned chore. He paid close attention and made sure that he remembered exactly what he had to do so he wouldn't mess it up the next day and get fired. When the tour had finished he was handed a light blue hakama and a white haori and told to get to work by Rei who then stalked off in a huff most likely remembering her Grandpa's words from earlier and wanted to have a **word** with him.

That had been a week ago and aside from the occasional exposure to Rei's fiery temper every now and again he actually found himself enjoying the honest hard work. After traveling the world for so long finding awakened Slayers and looking for places to set up branches of the New Watcher's Council it was nice to get back to normal life. Nothing but simple chores all day and nothing abnormal attacking him or asking him out on a date day or night. About the only gripe he had with the place was the tendency for Grandpa Hino to act like a hormonal teenage guy whenever high school girls came to the shrine to pray or buy good luck charms. It reminded him all too often of some of the embarrassing attempts he and Jesse had made back in their first year at Sunnydale High School to impress their female classmates. Thankfully he had matured since then and no longer tried to act like 'Mr. Cool' in the presence of a woman he liked. Mostly.

There were a few regular visitors to the shrine that were apparently friends of Rei's and unfortunately for him at least two were starting to act like girls with a crush around him. One was Lita Kino a tall, well…endowed brunette that looked like she would fit right in with a group of Slayers and no one would know she wasn't one of the Chosen. She was the more blunt of the two and only seemed to have a vague idea of what the word 'subtle' meant judging by how the questions she asked him would be useful for a future date. The other was Mina Aino who while having blonde hair like the pigtailed Serena was definitely the more mature of the two. As far as her crush on him went she seemed content to let Lita stumble through her 'subtle' Q&A to profit from the answers and only asked him anything when she thought Lita had left something out. Both visited every day since first meeting him and occasionally helped him with his chores but that was likely just a useful cover so they could talk/flirt with him. So far he was able to stay polite and not say anything to encourage them or hurt them one way or the other but he knew it was only a matter of time until they stepped up their efforts to date him.

_At least they're a step up from all the demon women I attracted back in Sunnydale._ Xander thought as he laid on his back on the futon and looked up at the ceiling of his room.

Of course that thought was immediately squashed when he reminded himself about their ages and how he'd be walking in the footsteps of Deadboy if he didn't watch his step. At least the rest of the young women were not going to be a problem as they were either already spoken for or had no interest in guys for various reasons. For Amy Anderson it was the simple fact that she was more in love with knowledge and learning than any 'mere boy' so she never treated him as anything other than an acquaintance. Serena Tsukino was apparently dating some guy named Darien and judging from the way she acted at the mere mention of his name it was clear she was hooked on the guy. Michiru Kaioh was apparently a lesbian like Willow and was firmly in a relationship with the ultimate tomboy Haruka Tenoh although they were unwilling to get too steamy in public. Next was a Setsuna Meioh who looked to be the oldest of the entire bunch, maybe even a university student, but she was somewhat cold in how she acted. It was only the final member of the group that seemed to get an emotional reaction out of her. This one person was Rini Tsukino and one could easily tell that she and Serena were related just on looks alone. They certainly acted like sisters some of the time with one always picking on the other but those that knew them could tell they didn't mean the hurtful things they said to one another. It was mostly due to the help of these women that he managed to get any breaks from Lita and Mina's crush inspired antics.

_I'll just have to endure it for a few months._ Xander thought as he mentally estimated when everything would be ready at the Japanese branch of the Council, _No problem._

Just as he felt like he was about to nod off to dreamland the ground shook like a mild earthquake and the sound of one of the shrine walls exploding reached his ears. Sitting up quickly as though someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on him he quickly got to his feet and pulled a short sword from his bag by the wall. It had been something of a problem to sneak his weapons onto the shrine without being spotted but once there he had hidden a number of them at strategic positions all over the place. After all just because the place was holy ground didn't mean that a demon couldn't still step onto it if it was powerful enough to endure the sacred energies therein. Clad only in a pair of sweats and his eye-patch he walked stealthily to the door leading to the courtyard and slid it open just enough to let him peek outside. What he saw was something both ridiculous but at the same time serious given the amount of destruction that was taking place.

Engaged in battle with something that looked like a cross between a supermodel and an unruly house plant were nine women of varying ages and one guy in formal wear **including** a top hat and cane. The women, as insane as it may sound, were dressed in super hero costumes based heavily on those sailor outfits that a lot of the high schools insisted their female students wear as school uniforms. Of course where the uniforms were perfectly decent and suitable for a learning environment the costumes these ladies were wearing were designed to show off their lithe figures **especially** the legs. That was the ridiculous part of what he was seeing. The dangerous part was that both sides of the fight showed time and time again that they were capable of devastating physical and magical attacks. Fire, water, lightning, light and other elements both natural and arcane were used by the nine women while their enemy's follow a more plant styled theme. Between the two of sides the grounds of the shrine were being battered and blown to pieces which, with a groan, he knew he'd be the one to clean up in the morning.

_Who are these idiots and why did they have to bring their fight **here**?_ Xander thought as settled on plant lady as the one that needed to be taken down.

"Sailor Venus! Look out!" yelled one of the ladies with red being a key colour in her costume.

"Thanks Mars!" 'Sailor Venus' yelled back after barely managing to dodge a barrage of exploding pinecones.

_'Sailor Venus'? 'Mars'?_ Xander thought as he tried to remember where he had seen those names before.

Then it hit him.

It had been his first week in Japan and he had decided to get a feel for the local weirdness and so picked up an assortment of newspapers and tabloids. Most of the gang back home thought he was nuts for thinking that he could gain any useful information from something that talked about 'love children' and 'alien visitors' most of the time. However just like Agent K from the movie 'Men in Black' he knew that it was in the tabloids that the majority of the stories about demons and the supernatural wound up. No reputable mainstream newspaper would even think of putting a story about demons on the front page regardless of whether or not the reporter had evidence to back it up. That was because they knew that as far as the majority of the world was concerned vampires, demons and magic didn't exist and would not believe any claims to the contrary. It had been there that he had seen, and partially read, the story about the Sailor Senshi and the monsters they fought.

At first he thought they might have been newly awakened Slayers but according to what he had been able to find out they had been active in Tokyo well before the battle with the First. The next possibility that came to mind was that they were magic users of some kind but given the destruction their attacks were capable of and the lack of potions or talismans that theory got shot down too. Eventually though he wrote the group of super heroines off as either the product of an over imaginative mind or promotional work for a new TV show or movie. After all the descriptions of the Senshi's appearances and the monsters they fought were just too outrageous to be true. Short-short mini-skirts? Big feminine bows? Enemies that looked like they belonged on a Power Rangers show? Even for someone who grew up in Sunnydale it was too weird?

Yet here they were fighting right in front of him and despite a careful look around to be sure he could find no signs of special effects people or cameras to record anything. This revelation also made it clear that the short sword in his hand was not going to do anything to the plant lady but piss her off and maybe send him to the hospital. Heading back to his bag of tricks he began to sift through it until he came upon the three things he needed. A metal jar, some duct tape and a grenade. Wrapping the tape around tightly so that the jaw and the grenade wouldn't be separated he darted back to the door leading to the courtyard and threw it open. Naturally everyone involved in the fighting looked in the direction of the unknown sound but he didn't give the plant lady time to react. Pulling the pin on the grenade he threw the compound item at her with as much speed as he could manage and then, just for safeties sake, dove for cover.

Three seconds later the grenade exploded shattering the metal jar, igniting the homemade napalm inside and covering the plant lady from head to toe in flames. The monster screamed like a banshee as it tried in vain to put the flames out and just like he'd hoped the Sailor Senshi followed their routine exactly as described in the tabloids.

"Now Sailor Moon!" exclaimed the tall Senshi with a green themed outfit.

"Right!" Sailor Moon said in agreement before producing a pink heart topped rod from **somewhere** on her person.

After a quick, and in his opinion useless, series of movements Sailor Moon struck a pose and yelled "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"

He was only able to catch three streams of what looked like stars flying out from the top of the rod/sceptre before a bright pink light forced him to cover his eyes. When the light died down and he could finally lower her hands the plant lady was gone and only the Sailor Senshi and their formal wear wearing guy friend remained. He wasn't sure exactly what kind of attack Sailor Moon had fired off but it sure wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. Definitely something to mention to Giles if the sneaky little Brit ever stopped blocking his calls anytime soon.

"Oooohhhh! Look at this mess!" exclaimed Sailor Mars as he surveyed the damage done to the Hikawa shrine, "It's going to take forever to repair all the damage!"

Huh? It almost sounds like Sailor Mars is connected big time to this place. Xander thought as he examined the raven haired Senshi a little more closely. At first there was a strange blurring around her features and figure that made it hard to make out any identifiable features. Fortunately a quick muttering of a dispelling incantation that Willow told him would work whether he had any innate magical talent or not and the blurring vanished to reveal the last person he expected to be wearing a Sailor Senshi outfit.

"Rei?" he exclaimed thereby getting the attention of everyone present, "What the hell?"

"What? But I'm not…" Rei said in surprise as she tried to deny his claim about her true identity but without much success.

"Way to go Rei!" Sailor Moon said as thought the miko had only made things worse when if fact it was she who had just spilled the beans to him.

"Shut up meatball head!" Rei yelled looking ready to march right over to the now identified Serea and smack her on the back of the head.

"I suppose you have a lot of questions Xander." Sailor Venus who he found out was Mina when she transformed back into her civilian clothes.

"Only one actually." He said as he watched the rest of the group change back into normal looking people.

Mina looked at him in a way that made it clear she was waiting to hear what the one question was.

"Who was the dumbass who designed your Senshi costumes?" Xander asked with a little bemusement, "'Cause from where I'm standing I don't think they send the sort of message you ladies would want."


	3. The Cold Face of Destiny

_Gargoyles: The Animated Series/BtVS_

_Season 3 for BtVS – Post "Hunter's Moon series" Gargoyles_

"_The Cold Face of Destiny"(Tentative Title, subject to change, suggestions welcome)_

_**Excerpts from the personal journal of Dr. Margaret 'Maggie' Walsh**_

_**Military Base – Codename: Initiative**_

(December 5, 1999)

The committee has made a new addition to the Initiative and it is one I am not sure if I approve of much less like. Displeased with the slow progress of my own efforts to harness the Hostile Sub-terrestrials, whether by control chip or Project: ADAM, they have decided to pursue another possible avenue of research.

Genetics.

It was proposed by the chairman that perhaps it would be easier to obtain the desired results for a 'Super Soldier' by creating them rather than search for them. To that end they have hired one Dr. Anton Sevarius, a reknowned geneticist if somewhat infamous, to use his skills to create a suitable 'prototype'. I was not told the details of how Sevarius intended to create this prototype and when I questioned the man directly he merely replied 'all in due time my dear'.

This both irritated me and caused me to be even more determined to get the answers I sought. For the time being though I will merely observe and hope that the good doctor will show some 'professional courtesy' and tell me what I want to know. Otherwise I will have to employ some risky measures to find out without Sevarius' permission.

(December 10, 1999)

After receiving shipment after shipment of equipment the past five days Dr. Sevarius finally invited me to his branch of the compound for a briefing. Once some rather unusual security precautions were put in place he asked me to sit down and began his briefing with a slide show. To say that the doctor's plans were ambitious would be an understatement.

The briefing began with a review of a topic that had caused quite a media frenzy on the east coast of the United States mere months ago. Gargoyles. Once thought to be only crude sculptures of monsters on the side of gothic buildings were now living and breathing creatures. If Dr. Sevarius' claims could be trusted he had known about the existence of this new breed of sub-terrestrial for two years and had been involved in research on them. When she had asked who had funded that research he merely said 'private citizens with deep pockets' and continued with his briefing.

According to Anton he had on two separate occasions had the opportunity to gain knowledge of the gargoyles and their physiology. The first was during at attempt to clone a live specimen, something she had thought impossible with today's technology, but the experiment went afoul. While the clone did match the physical dimensions of the original some flaw in the cloning procedure or the accelerated growth process had altered its coloring. Instead of twilight colored skin, brown hair and white eyes the clone had dark purple skin, black hair and blood red eyes. Added to some other problems such as the clone's neurology and the experiment was considered a failure by the backer. Funding was soon after cut and Dr. Sevarius fired.

The next opportunity came about half a year ago when another employer approached him with a job offer. This time instead of cloning one of the known existing gargoyles he was commissioned to clone almost all of them. This time the employer didn't care about the replicas ability to imitate the original but rather wanted them for their combat value. Thus while the physical parameters were identical the intellects of the copies were barely at the level of common thugs. Unfortunately this lack of intellect proved to be the 'T-Clones' downfall as they were soundly defeated when confronted by cunning adversaries. His employer was furious and had blamed him despite the fact that it was her fault for setting the intelligence level for each clone. This of course led to him being fired once again and led to his current employment with the United States military.

Claiming to have learned from his previous mistakes Dr. Sevarius had decided to take a new route with his research that would meet the committee's needs. Instead of copying existing gargoyles he would instead take the best traits from them to create an entirely new gargoyle that would be completely original. Anton claimed that the overall anatomy and humanoid appearance would remain the same but the prototypes would not resemble the ones in New York in any way. When he failed to mention how he would deal with the intelligence or accelerated growth she brought it up just to make sure he had been thorough. This led to him merely giving her vague reassurances that everything would work out fine.

That alone gave me a reason to keep an eye on him.

(December 20, 1999)

Matters are becoming complicated and my suspicions regarding Dr. Sevarius seem more and more justified with each passing day. The first suspicious act was Anton apparently hiring outside mercenaries to help in acquiring certain 'materials' for his experiments. As soon as I learned of this I approached the committee on the matter stating that the hiring of such people threatened the security and secrecy of the complex. However my concerns were brushed aside with assurances from the chairman that the mercenaries were being well paid and would be 'dealt with' once they completed their allotted assignments. I tried to press the matter but was tactfully reminded of a potential problem of my own involving a Ms. Buffy Summers. Agent Finn had encountered her when dealing with some sub-terrestrials believed to be involved with the unexplained case of laryngitis a few days ago. Finn did not report this encounter or what he learned but Agent Forrest was able to inform me of this and Agent Finn's growing attraction to her. A potential problem considering Riley's role in Project ADAM but not entirely unexpected considering the abundance of young women in the area. I'll have to monitor the situation carefully between Finn and Ms. Summers.

Under this pressure I conceded to the judgment of the committee and resumed my own work. However the next instance of suspicious behavior occurred only two days ago when Anton's mercenaries carted two-dozen coffin shaped containers into his lab. I attempted to inquire as to what was in the containers, both to one of the mercenaries and to Dr. Sevarius himself, but was rudely rebuffed by the former and politely told to mind my own business by the latter. This angers me greatly as I don't like having someone in a compound I am the head of not being under my control. However until Anton gives me something I can use against him all I can do is monitor his activities and hope my patience will be rewarded.

(January 1, 2000)

I believe I am beginning to get an inkling of what Sevarius has been up to concerning his 'materials' and the coffin shaped containers. Agent Finn has been making discreet inquiries without authorization concerning an acquaintance of Ms. Summers. Roughly around the same time as the containers had been brought in one Alexander LaVelle Harris went missing and Ms. Summers as well as her associates have been trying to locate him ever since. Considering the date of Mr. Harris' disappearance and the arrival of the containers it would be foolish not to see the connection. While my own research and experiments might be met with some controversy among the scientific community I at least obey the law. My 'materials' are either were not protected by the law or were legally signed over to me by the committee. If my suspicions about Sevarius are correct then he is either a murderer or kidnapper depending on the state the contents of the containers.

I will wait awhile longer and see if Agent Finn is able to turn anything up on Mr. Harris' whereabouts. It is entirely possible that the young man was killed by some H.S.T and the body has simply yet to be found. It is also possible that he has simply left town and for some reason chose not to inform his friends of his decision. If however after a month there are no results I will send a message to the committee with my suspicions and then chance trying to access Sevarius' lab on my own. I will tell only Dr. Angleman of my intentions as a precaution in case Anton decides to take drastic measures to keep his secrets.

_**Outside the Doors to Dr. Anton Sevarius' Section of The Initiative, One Month Later**_

Midnight 

It had taken some doing but she had managed to arrange for the complex to be reduced to a bare skeleton personnel compliment and had a fake message from the committee sent to Sevarius' computer. She had seen him leave via the screens in the security room and after leaving a note on Dr. Angleman's desk made her way to the doors leading to Anton's lab. Carefully, so as not to attract any undue attention, she popped the plastic covering off of the keycard scanner next to the door and activated the secret override known only to her as the person in charge of the compound. Just like they were supposed to the doors slid open and not waiting for them to finish she slipped inside and pressed the button to close them. Once the doors were once again shut and she heard the security seal activate she walked down the hallway to where the complex blueprints said the main lab was located. She knew if evidence existed that could expose Sevarius' illegal acts it would be there.

_All I would need is a few documents or maybe even a video/audio recording of his experiments._ She thought as she turned a corner and saw the entrance to the main lab at the end of the hallway, _The committee will then have no choice but to shut down his project and arrest him._

Reaching the double doors of the main laboratory she was relieved to find that there wasn't another card reader or some similar security measure present. It was true that there had been no mention of such things in the blueprints or construction records but given all the other things Sevarius had done on his own initiative he might have put a few in place. Taking a moment to brace herself for what she might find she took a deep breath and with both hands pushed the doors open. Inside she found things that both repulsed her and at the same time intrigued the part of her that was a scientist.

The largest and most impressive area of the lab contained four rows of six cylindrical containers with each row a step up and a three feet back from the one in front. Like on a four-step staircase the tubes were arranged and when she stepped closer she saw signs that each container was designed to be easily portable without the need of disturbing the contents or the experiment. Obviously the good doctor believed it was only a matter of time before his illegal and unethical methods were discovered and had made preparations to escape with his test subjects. Inside the tubes, suspended in some sort of solution with various monitoring devices attached to them, were what appeared to be gargoyles. Sixteen females and eight males judging from the anatomy she could see and their respective builds. Each being in the cylinders was unique just as Sevarius had claimed they would be since aside from a few constants no two were alike and would be easy to tell apart on looks alone. They appeared to be adolescents, if a gargoyle's development was anything like a human's physical development, most likely in their mid to late teens. This of course made no sense to her as it seemed impossible that Anton could have grown them in such a short span of time. Not only that but her mind could not conceive of how humans or human remains could fit with what she was seeing now.

_Keep looking!_ She thought as she tried to mentally shake herself into action, _There has to be an explanation for this somewhere here._

After a few moments of random inspections she spotted a tape recorder on a table and metaphorically pounced on it since she was almost certain of what it contained. Pressing the play button she waited for the knowledge she sought to emerge from it and the key to getting rid of Dr. Sevarius.

"December 25th, 1999. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. Project Stonemason proceeds apace and based on the data I have been collecting for the past week I believe I might very well have outdone myself. All twenty-four subjects are coming along nicely and the serum I introduced to their systems has completely neutralized the possibility of rejection." Sevarius' voice said arrogantly from the tape recorder, "I'll admit I was a little worried about the results of combining gargoyle DNA with my mutagenic formula but thanks to recent advances in genetic engineering it worked flawlessly. All that remains now is for the formula to finish its work and then the mental aspect of the experiment can begin."

_Again the date where these copy gargoyles were 'born' match the day those coffin containers arrived._ Walsh thought with growing concern, _I am not sure I like where this is going._

"January 7th, 2000. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. All twenty-four prototypes have completed their physical change according to the specifications I set down in the beginning. An interesting side note to this experiment is that the mutagenic formula had the unforeseen side effect of turning the subjects into examples of physical perfection." Sevarius' voice declared from the recorder, "The males look like they could easily win a body building contest and the females look like every man's wet dream. If the subjects were human of course but then again who am I to judge the appetites of modern society. In any case this development should at least aide me in creating suitable breeding stock for my plans."

"January 15th, 2000. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. Mental reprogramming is proceeding apace with the reformatting of the subjects almost complete. Once finished none of the subjects should recall their previous lives in the slightest and will be completely dependant on me for information about the world." Sevarius said in the recording with certainty, "The last part of the programming will of course be directives making them completely loyal and obedient to me. Can't have them turning on me like two of my previous experiments did on Mr. Xanatos. Once the reformatting is completed I will move onto installing their instincts and basic combat capabilities since it will save me the trouble of having to teach them to fight or fly myself."

"January 21st, 2000. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. The reformatting of the subjects has been completed and I have ordered the installation of second series of programs to begin. Sadly it appears as though I may have to step up the timetable a bit as it seems Dr. Walsh is beginning to suspect the less than kosher aspects of my work." Anton said in the recording with some concern in his voice at the mention of her investigation, "I knew it would be a risk bringing in the templates for the prototypes the way I did but due to hack job the designer of this place did making this place there were no covert options for getting them to the lab. Still without solid proof there is nothing she can do to upset my plans and by the time she manages to muster some I'll be long gone."

_Templates? What could he mean by--?_ Walsh thought as she tried to fit all the pieces she had gained together to form a clear picture.

It took her less than a minute to form that picture and what she did shocked her to the core causing her to look closely at the gargoyles in the tubes for one specific set of features. Three passes of each gargoyle later she found what or rather who she was looking for and her worst-case scenario was confirmed. There suspended in an unknown solution was one transformed Alexander LaVelle Harris. It all became crystal clear to her now what Sevarius had done and she knew she had to take the tape recorder in her hand to the committee right away. The people on that board might be willing to push the envelope a little in terms of what could be considered ethical avenues of experimentation but they would never approve of this. The potential for it to blow up in their faces and land them all in prison if not worse was too great.

"What do you think of my work Dr. Walsh?" asked the last person she wanted to run into at that moment.

Turning around she was shocked to see Anton walk casually away from the double doors with his eyes never leaving hers for a moment. What was he doing here! He should be two hours away by now at least!

"I think that once I play this tape for the committee and have the soldiers posted here seize the lab that you will have a lot of explaining to do." Maggie replied deciding to stand her ground and claim the position of dominance early on.

"Well then I'd better get started shouldn't I?" Sevarius asked rhetorically with a sinister grin.

It was right then that she knew something was up. He was so calm and confident despite the fact that the house of cards he'd built was on the verge of coming down around his ears. Still the whisper of curiosity kept her from fleeing just as her still ample confidence in her position kept her confusion from showing. She watched as he began to walk in front of the first row of 'gargoyles' appraising them as one would a piece of art.

"I suppose I should start with what is most likely your most volatile question which would be 'what did you mean by templates?'" Sevarius said as he stopped in front of the tube containing a changed Mr. Harris, "Each and every single one of the subjects you see here were once human. Picked at random from the population of Sunnydale I had each of them stored at a warehouse until the full twenty-four were gathered. Once they were moved here and placed in their containers I injected them with my new gargoyle mutagenic formula."

"You see Dr. Walsh after going over my notes from past work involving the gargoyle species I discovered that it had been the **combination** of the cloning process and the accelerated aging process that caused the flaws. Even Thailog who some might consider a resounding success was flawed by the process as I suspect the experiment that birthed him might have had some unforeseen neurological side effects." Explained Anton before he continued his rounds of the chambers, "In any case that combined with my other failures prompted me to develop a completely different approach. Instead of growing the gargoyles from scratch and using artificial aging I would simply take living specimens and alter their genetic code to more closely match that of gargoyle DNA."

"As you heard on the tape I had been quite wary in the beginning about combining my mutagenic formula with gargoyle DNA but as you can see the results are undeniable. Once they have been properly trained and housebroken they will be quite the little cash crop for me." Sevarius said before turning and looking right at her, "'What do you mean by that' you say? Why I should think the answer rather obvious in light of recent newsworthy events. Thanks to the exposing of the gargoyle clan in Manhattan the entire world is abuzz with how this revelation will alter the course of the future."

"More importantly several members of the filthy rich will be absolutely obsessed with having a gargoyle of their very own. Whether it be for mere display or for something a little more **messy** it won't matter." Anton said with gleeful anticipation, "The point is that they'll pay through the nose for one and even more for a breeding pair. I of course will keep the original set. Can't have anyone copying my work now can I?"

"The best part of it all is that I won't have to worry about the problem of genetic abnormalities commonly associated with procreation between close family members. You see if I had simply cloned the gargoyles in Manhattan or even had my formula completely change the specimens to match the members of that clan I would not be able to construct a viable breeding colony. There would simply be too few females and too many males which would almost guarantee inbreeding problems." Sevarius explained as though he was giving a seminar, "Fortunately thanks to some rather… unscientific resources… I was able to isolate the key components of gargoyle DNA and incorporate them into the formula. It was like playing with building blocks in terms of simplicity. Plainly speaking I just added the gargoyle components to the specimen's existing DNA and then enhanced them so as to ensure that the gargoyle elements would be the most dominant."

"So you're saying that there is still some human DNA in them?" Walsh asked as her mind tried to comprehend what she had been told, "That they are some kind of hybrids?"

"Not in the way you're probably thinking. While it is true that some of their features and physical characteristics are similar to how they looked when they were human it is only skin deep." Anton replied appearing pleased that she had decided to join in on the topic, "If there is any human DNA still in them it is likely less than ten percent of the whole and in some cases less than five percent. Another precautionary measure on my part to ensure that no one learns the secrets of what happened here."

"Well then your plans have failed Dr. Sevarius! Now that I have this tape recorder and your **lengthy** confession to me the committee will have no choice but to shut you down and lock you up." Walsh said deciding that the time had come to leave, "I hope you like prison food Anton because soon it'll be the only thing you're allowed to eat."

"I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check on that my dear." Sevarius said as though he were declining a business dinner, "As for you telling the committee about my plans I don't think they'll even listen to you."

Before she could even ask him what he meant he pulled something out of his coat pocket and a second later she felt a sharp prick in her neck. Reaching up in a panic she recognized it as a tranquilizer dart and realized that he intended to leave her unconscious here while he made his getaway. Turning she began to run for the door so she could get to a med-kit and counter the dart's effects with a shot of adrenaline. However five steps later she noticed something odd that stopped her in her tracks: she wasn't feeling tired at all. By all rights the effects of the tranquilizer dart should have started taking hold of her immediately but she didn't feel sluggish at all.

"You're probably wondering why your aren't feeling the effects of the tranquilizer dart right now. The answer is simple." Sevarius said in a truly sinister way, "That wasn't a tranquilizer dart I fired at you just now. It was the original mutagenic formula I developed when working for David Xanatos. Within a matter of hours you will no longer be recognizable as human, no longer be human, and will fit it quite nicely with the various demons you have locked up here. Also I added a little something that will most likely rob you of your ability to speak or think clearly once the transformation is complete. In short the esteemed Dr. Margaret Walsh will have disappeared and an unknown H.S.T will be captured and held for study. At least that's what everyone will think."

In shock she turned around to face him, as if looking at his face would tell her whether or not he was telling the truth, and that was when she felt a second sharp pain in her neck. Within seconds she knew that the second dart was indeed filled with tranquilizer as waves of fatigue began to roll over her and coherent thought became more difficult to achieve. She tried so hard to force herself to run to the door beyond which she would find a means of counteracting the tranquilizer. In the end she was only human though and before she managed three steps she dropped to the ground weak as a kitten with darkness rushing in from the edges of her eyes.

"It's been a pleasure working with you Dr. Walsh or should I say Hostile twenty-five." Sevarius said to her before she left the waking world for the dream world.

One Minute Later, Sevarius' Lab 

"Well that takes care of that problem." Sevarius muttered to himself after checking Walsh's pulse to ensure that she was indeed unconscious.

He really had to admire her daring spirit and how she managed to set things up quite nicely for a private peek at his laboratory. The arrangements she had made were almost perfect except for one little detail that she hadn't accounted for in her machinations. After that debacle with Thailog on the drilling platform off the coast of Manhattan he had made sure to install certain safety measures to ensure that no phony emails could be sent to him. The program was designed so that the very moment that a connection was made to his email account the message would be sent through a series of trace programs to determine its true point of origin. As well he had arranged, off the record, for all real emails from the committee to be sent with a specific identification marking. Add it all up and he had a foolproof way of making sure that no one could trick him like Thailog had again.

Therefore when Dr. Walsh had sent the email 'from the committee' he had known immediately that it was both false and from her computer. His first impulse had been to confront her about it and forcefully tell her to cease her snooping before he was forced to take drastic action. However upon further reflection he had decided against it as it could very well have led to an investigation by the committee into his project. He knew that Walsh only had circumstantial evidence at the moment and that her unlawful entry into his lab tonight was an attempt to gain more concrete proof. However the bits and pieces she had might have proven enough to at least get an investigator from the committee to look over his work. In the end he had decided on the course of action that he had carried out in the past few minutes. He would allow her to believe her scheme had worked and when she was suitably alone he would make sure the threat she posed was eliminated. It was truly a bit of irony that a woman who had spent the past year experimenting and dissecting demons would soon be mistaken for one and experimented on herself.

Still Walsh was no fool and had probably informed at least one person of her intention to break into his lab. When Margaret went missing one of the first places they would look would be his laboratory and then the cat really would be out of the bag. One way or another it looked as though it was time to leave.

"Ladies I do believe it is time we relocated." He said as he turned to face his three research assistants who had kept themselves hidden behind machinery, "Prepare all the cylinders for travel and have Brutus' people bring the trucks to the loading docks. I'll start getting my research materials in order and find a way to keep the path to the trucks clear."

"As you wish Doctor." Said the twenty something woman with platinum blonde hair.

With that he began walking towards his office where he'd begin copying all the important files to disk before dumping hydrochloric acid on the hard drive. Then he would deal with the paper files and audio recordings before doing what he could to keep the rest of the personnel away from the quickest route from his lab to the loading docks. He knew he would not have time to think of a way to conceal the contents of the cylinders competently so all that left was to think of a way to have the rest of the initiative avoid the chosen corridors like the plague.

_I'll tell them that some hazardous waste is being disposed of and are being taken to the loading docks where trucks will be waiting to take them away._ He thought as he entered his office and headed to his leather chair, _If I make the contents seem foul enough all the G.I Joes and pocket protector scientists will do all they can to stay away._

Sitting down in his chair he quickly went to work while in the back of his mind he was already thinking of what he would do with his future riches.

In the Main Lab, Same Time 

"The plan nears fruition sisters." Spoke the white haired young woman as she turned to look at the other two.

"Indeed sister. Soon our penance will be complete and Lord Oberon will allow us to return to Avalon." Stated the young woman with hair the color of gold.

"Good. Now let us follow the final orders we need complete for that filthy human and be gone." Growled the young woman with black hair as she made it clear that the sooner their task was done the happier she'd be.

With nods from each of them, in perfect synch with one another, they went about preparing the cylinders for travel and informing the mercenaries of Sevarius' orders. It took only half an hour to get all the tubes to the loading docks and another ten for the three sisters to come up with a feasible reason why they would leave by another route. Once the last of the trucks vanished from sight and all mechanical devices that may have been watching them were disabled they shed the disguises they had worn for the past few months. The clothes one expected research assistants to wear shimmered before melted away to reveal dresses as white as snow. Their intellectual glasses vanished and their hair that once was done up in a bun was again allowed to flow freely down their backs. Each took a deep breath for it felt good to be back in the form they were most comfortable in.

"Is she in position to intercept the trucks?" Ms. Golden Hair asked the one with white hair.

"Yes she is. Our annoying brother informed me two days ago that she received our 'anonymous tip' and a day later left the city." Ms. Snow White replied in an inevitable tone of voice.

"Will he not tell his **human** master of our plans?" asked Ms. Black Hair with obvious disdain for the situation their sibling was in.

"Eventually yes but I believe he is looking forward to adding new players to his game. He will not spoil matters by informing his mortal master too soon." Ms. Snow White replied with a small grin.

"Then let us take our leave and let matters develop as they will." Ms. Golden Hair declared decisively.

A flash of light later and all that remained of the three women were rapidly disappearing sparkles of light that faded out of sight within seconds.

Five Miles Outside of Sunnydale, The Main Highway, Twenty Minutes Later 

_There they are._ She thought as she watched the three large trucks roll down the highway toward her position.

It had been only two days ago that she had received an anonymous package in her office and for a moment she had considered tossing it in the garbage immediately. However just as she had been about to do so curiosity whispered in her ear making her wonder if she was being overly hasty. It had already been cleared by security so there was nothing harmful about the package and it would only take a few minutes to examine the contents so she had opened it. What she had found inside had shocked her to the core and made her cancel all her meetings for that day and the foreseeable future. For eighteen hours straight she pored over the documents, pictures and video recordings that had been inside the parcel. Once she had examined all the material herself she dispatched her information gathering resources to confirm what they could. Right up until the moment the last bit of information had been confirmed she had assumed someone was trying to deceive her. However with all the evidence proven to be genuine her mind had no choice but to accept what she had been shown by the contents of the package.

Twenty-four gargoyles were in the custody of the American military and were being experimented on by none other than Anton Sevarius.

According to the documents the United States military had come upon the clan during one of their 'peacekeeping' missions in Europe and had captured them. The records her sources had been able to provide her with confirmed that a military operation had taken place and twenty-four crates of the appropriate size had been loaded onto a secure plane. The parcel's documents also stated that the **experiments** were being done at a secret government complex called 'The Initiative' deep below UC Sunnydale's Lowell fraternity house. This too had been confirmed as well as the nature of what went on within the compound. It had angered her enough to learn that gargoyles were being treated like lab rats by the humans she so despised but to learn who was in charge of them transformed anger into fury.

_I should have killed that vermin when I had the chance!_ She thought with a growl as she raised her charged particle weapon and aimed.

With the truth no longer up for debate she had immediately began to make preparations to rescue the gargoyles being held captive. Twelve hours later she was in the air aboard her own private transport plane flying across the country towards California while the second part of her plan had no doubt arrived at its destination. The plane was thankfully fully automated for the most part and only required her to do things the machine was too stupid or not programmed to do. She had arrived six hours ago and was pleased to find that part two of her plan was in place and would wait for her signal. Then less than an hour ago she had received a message on her laptop informing her that Sevarius would be transporting the gargoyles down this stretch of highway soon. With all speed she glided to the ambush point she had chosen after a quick consultation with a map of the area. Thus she had waited and now was the time for her patience to pay off and for her greatest wish to come true.

Looking through the targeting scope of her weapon she waited until the first truck just began to appear before firing a blast across the vehicle's path. This caused the driver to quickly come to a controlled stop and all the others did likewise just as she knew they would. Like clockwork the group of mercenaries Sevarius had hired in the past exited the trucks and took up a defensive posture around the vehicles looking for the source of the attack. Adjusting the power setting on the charged particle weapon she took aim at the hood of the lead truck and fired causing smoke to rise but doing no real damage. After all it would be too much work to get another truck out here to transport the gargoyles contained within the lead vehicle. However it did have the effect of scaring that snake Anton out of the truck and behind the human she presumed was the leader of the mercenaries.

_Now that everything is in place it's time I made an appearance._ She thought as she slung the weapon over her shoulder and picked up two stainless steel suitcases before taking to the air.

She knew exactly when Sevarius and his men had spotted her as the former cowered even more behind the leader while the latter trained their weapons in her. Landing gracefully on the paved highway she gave the sniveling coward a feral grin that only became bigger as the fool made a poor attempt to appear relaxed. He no doubt believed that numbers and weaponry were on his side in this confrontation. He likely believed that she while dangerous could not hope to overcome the forces at his disposal. She almost laughed out loud at the image her mind provided for her when she tried to imagine how he would react when she gave the signal for phase two to begin.

"Ah Demona! What a pleasant surprise it is to see you again." Sevarius said as though meeting an expected guest at a party, "Would you care to tell me why you stopped my little convoy here? My friends and I do have something of a schedule to keep."

"The reason I stopped your 'little convoy' is because I intend to make it my convoy." Demona replied in a dead serious tone, "I know what you have in there."

She watched him curse under his breath and added one more piece of confirmation to what she already had concerning the contents of the anonymous package.

"I see. Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement." Sevarius said as he employed his best businessman voice, "I'm afraid that the specimens in these trucks are already spoken for but if you'll just wait a couple of months I can have twice as many ready for you to pick up. Does that sound agreeable to you?"

She let her glowing scarlet eyes respond for her as her blood boiled at the arrogance of this human. He thought he could treat her people like commodities! He **dared** to inflict more pain and suffering through his experiments on even more gargoyles! She had originally intended to draw this confrontation out more in order to make the second phase of her plan more gratifying but that had changed. Now she wanted nothing more than to kill the foul doctor and take the gargoyles he had tortured away from here to someplace safe. Bringing her charged particle weapon to bear she aimed it at Sevarius and growled in a primal fashion so as to let her mood be known.

"The only thing **I** will find agreeable is splattering your carcass all over this highway!" she yelled angrily as she pushed a button and the whine of her weapon charging filled the air.

"Kill her! KILL HER!" Sevarius bellowed as he scrambled to avoid entering the crosshairs of her weapon.

"Sorry 'doctor' but you really should have hired better help." Demona said with a sneer as she used her tail to lift the two steel suitcases and throw them in front of the leader of the mercenaries, "Here is the other half of your payment. If your men drive the trucks to address inside the suitcase and load them onto the plane you will be paid an additional five million dollars."

Much to Sevarius' horror the leader gestured and all of the men who had their weapons trained on her a moment ago lowered their guns. Like most mercenaries the leader opened the cases and inspected the money inside to be sure of its amount and authenticity. Once satisfied with his examination of the contents he took the slip of paper with the address and stuffed it into one of his vests pockets.

"Consider it done." He said before turning his head towards Anton, "What do you want to do with him?"

"I believe I already covered that." Demona replied as darted to the side where she had a clear shot of Sevarius and pulled the trigger on her weapon.

The blast from the weapon threw the now **former** best geneticist on the planet into the air almost tearing his body in two. It landed on the ground with a thump and rolled a few feet before coming to a complete halt. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air along with the ozone produced by the discharge of her weapon but the human mercenaries were professional enough not to let any revulsion show. With another gesture from the leader the rest of the mercenaries loaded back onto the trucks but just as the leader was about to board the lead vehicle she grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Before you depart I would like to get a look at the cargo." She said in a perfectly business oriented tone.

Nodding he headed for the back of the truck with her following a safe distance behind. With the removal of the lock and a twist the two back doors of the truck opened the illuminated and fully functional cylinders containing her new clan. For that is what they would be once they were safely at her retreat outside of Manhattan and she had her own team of geneticists ensure that Sevarius had not done anything potentially lethal to them. As she leapt up and into the truck between the two rows of four she recalled how the materials she had received in the mystery package had not specified what sort of experiments had been conducted on these gargoyles. Shoving that thought aside, confident that any problems could wait until later, she examined the members of her new family and was pleased by what she saw. All of them appeared to be strong and had the look of warriors about them as well as the look of a fine brother or sister. However when she came to the last cylinder on the left what she saw inside was not a potential sibling but something she desired much more than that. Inside was a male of a fairly muscular build (not quite as pronounced as Goliath but definitely superior to Brooklyn) with long brown hair and blue skin much like her own. He had the same noble bearing as her former love but at the same time she sensed an inner ruthlessness that mirrored her own. With that thought this gargoyle's future was decided and their destinies intertwined.

_Soon my future love, soon._ She thought as she placed a hand on the glass of the container, _Soon we will be together and we will forge a future for our clan such as no one as ever seen._


	4. The Trickster in Me

_Gargoyles/BtVS crossover – Yet Another Halloween Fanfic_

"_The Trickster in Me" (tentative title, subject to change, suggestions welcome)_

Ethan's Costume Shop, 3:30p.m 

_Why does God hate me!_ Xander thought as he strolled through the isles of costumes waiting for something to catch his eye.

The day had started out normally enough with Buffy, Willow and him strolling the halls of Sunnydale high heading to the student lounge for lunch. Then their first bit of bad luck appeared in the form of Snyder 'volunteering' them for chaperon duty of a group of third graders. For two hours he'd be stuck with a group of half-pints who would not only be hyped up on sugar but also given the trend in modern society today probably have serious attitude problems. Still he had looked on the bright side of being able to dress up in a costume and maybe scam some of the candy from the kids before returning them to their parents. Then of course the second bit of bad luck had to show up in the form of Larry the Caveman linebacker asking about how 'fast' Buffy was and him trying to stand up to the bully. He personally hadn't cared whether he managed to make the jock back down or got pummelled a bit by the moron since he'd get credit for standing up to the guy one way or another. That of course was shot to pieces when Buffy intervened and shoved Larry against the soda machine. Now when everyone at school looked at him they'd see a guy so weak he needed a short weak looking little girl to rescue him. The final bit of bad luck came just minutes ago when he had spotted the final component he needed for his soldier costume. However before he came within ten feet of it a snot nosed brat of a kid he recognised, Austin Evinson, grabbed it and ran to the cash register to buy it.

_Now here I am with thirty bucks in my pocket that I planned on using to by some used army fatigues from the surplus store and no gun in sight to complete the costume._ He thought as he saw a Jedi costume but winced when he saw the price tag, _Now I have to find something else and quick or else I'll have Snyder breathing down my neck and probably two weeks of detention._

The clock was ticking and both Buffy as well as Willow had already left with their costumes satisfied with his 'I will catch up' statement. He was just about to give up when he spotted an outfit at the very end of the aisle he was walking down. It looked to him like the manager of the store had put it up in a rush because not only was the mannequin about two sizes to small for the outfit but said outfit was just barely staying on the wooden figure. Deciding that it was interesting enough to warrant a closer look he walked up to it and did his best to arrange it like it was supposed to be. It took him less than a minute to recognise the red medieval shirt, purple toga, white wig and pointy ears of one of his favourite cartoon characters. While the show had technically ended last February he had never really considered the pathetic 'Goliath Chronicles' to be a part of the canon of the show. For one thing a fan of the show need only compare an episode from the 'Chronicles' with say the very interesting world tour arc and the differences in quality could easily be seen. The sound effects, the animation and the cool special effects used to make the magic as well as the glowy gargoyle eyes were all superior pre-Chronicles and sucked bit time after the Hunter's Moon episodes. Plus they put a lot more thought into the plot up until the end of the Hunter's Moon episodes as well.

_Well lame ass job aside I think I just found my costume._ Xander thought as he quickly began taking the outfit off the mannequin along with all the accessories.

He wasn't sure that he had enough money for it but he figured that given the half-hearted job that the manager had done putting it up that it wouldn't be too expensive. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found that the costume was only $24.95 and quickly doing the math he found that with tax added on he should just have enough. With an armful of cloth, some plastic ears, metal arm braces, a white wig, tights and brown boots he strolled to the cash register a playful and happy grin on his face.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sunnydale High School, 3:57p.m 

_It's times like these I really **do** wish I could turn him into a monkey._ Xander thought as he organized the kids he'd been assigned into a straight line.

He had managed to get into costume, out the front door of his house and over to Buffy's in record time. A good thing in his opinion since he had a good idea what Tony would have both said and done if he had spotted his son's costume. After all it was hardly the sort of outfit a 'manly man' would wear and with a few exceptions only people under the age of twelve would likely recognise who he had dressed up as. When he had shown up at Buffy's so all three of them could walk to the school together the blonde Slayer had looked at him like he'd hit his head or something equally likely to disrupt thought processes. Fortunately Willow had come down a few seconds later and knew he had dressed up as after a single look. She quickly clued Buffy in and while that did get the Slayer to look less confused he knew she was still in the dark concerning who he had dressed up as. Letting it slide, while making a mental note to bring all his taped episodes over next time, they all started walking down the street to their mutually appointed doom at Sunnydale High School.

Sadly less than ten minutes after they arrived at the high school Larry had shown up to bug him and of course happily poked fun at his outfit like he had expected Tony would have had he caught his son sneaking out. Fortunately it seemed a fearful flinch was enough to satisfy the dimwitted dunce and that left him where he was right now which was trying to get a pack of kids to settle down and get organized. Deciding it might be time to get into character a little he closed his eyes for a moment and pulled to the front of his mind everything he remembered about a certain snow haired trickster.

"Alright boys and girls it's time for you to learn a thing or two about the fun that is trick or treating." Xander said in his best mischief maker voice, "Listen to me kiddies and I promise that in two hours you'll have so much candy and have had so much fun you'll be begging mom and dad to let you stay with little ol' me for a few hours more."

His acting worked like a charm as he saw more than a few proverbial light bulbs light up over their heads as they caught on to who he was dressed up as tonight. With the adoration they had for the character in their heads they became much more manageable and within ten minutes they were off to fill their bags with treats.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Middle of the Street, Ten Seconds After Ethan Cast His Spell 

"Oooooohhhhh! I haven't had a headache this bad since I tried to out drink Coyote." The short white haired man as he floated up into the air while massaging the sides of his head in an effort to relieve some of the pain.

_Yeah? Well I'd take a throbbing headache over losing control of my body any day!_

This statement from an unknown voice from within his head got rid of the pain in a jiffy but it also left him with a new problem. Searching within him he found that he had one extra mind floating around inside his head and he knew he hadn't created it. It was male, a teenager and at the moment seemed to sway between being pissed and freaking out over the change in circumstances. Reviewing the young one's statement he found much to his surprise that he really was in someone else's body along with his Owen personae.

"Well this is certainly an interesting turn of events." He said like he was talking about a sudden change in the weather, "I know I asked the boss for a change in address but this isn't quite what I had in mind. I don't suppose you know what's going on my unsuspecting host?"

_Look all I know was one minute I'm escorting a bunch of kids around for Halloween and the next you're in the driver's seat with everyone else becoming their costumes._

'Everyone else becoming their costumes'? While it was certainly possible that the young man was under some other spell, Oberon knew there were a lot of them out there these days, it was more likely that the boy was under the same spell as everyone else. That would logically mean that for some reason the lad had chosen to dress up as him for Halloween and that was odd since he didn't remember signing any licensing deals.

"Well then my boy, before we go and eventually fix this mess, perhaps you could tell me what gave you the idea to dress up as yours truly." He asked as he tossed a few bolts of energy from his fingers to keep some mini-demons away.

_Well I was always a big fan of the cartoon and since I've always liked your sense of humour it seemed like the perfect choice. 'Course if I knew this was going to happen I might've tried to convince Buffy to go as one of the Weird Sisters and Willow as Fox._

"Nah! I wouldn't wish dressing up as one of those old harpies on any mortal." He said making his opinion of the three almost identical triplets known, "However if that scantily clad redhead coming this way is Willow then I completely agree with your choice of costume. She's definitely got Fox's figure!"

_Hey! That's my best friend you're leering at!_

"For your information I was **admiring** her **not** leering." He corrected before he gave the redhead who was currently ghosting through a car's hood another once over, "However now that you mention it she is definitely leer worthy."

_I **swear** if you try to come onto her I **will** find a way to hurt you!_

"You're Puck right? And from the way you're talking Xander's inside you somewhere?" Willow asked having already pieced together what the situation was for her best-friend-since-pre-school.

"If by 'Xander' you mean the young man who apparently hasn't clued in that you are a **beautiful** young woman then yes he's inside me." Puck replied making Xander go non-verbal with disbelief and Willow tomato red with embarrassment.

"Look we gotta find Buffy and make sure she's okay!" Willow said urgently being the first of the two non-fae to get over their respective emotional overloads.

"Then by all means my fair female fox let's find this 'Buffy' and then we can really have some **fun**." Puck said as he flew over to Willow's side.

The look on Willow's face thought looked a little bit worried. Perfectly understandable since she had the same amount of knowledge of the cartoon 'Gargoyles' as Xander and knew what Puck considered 'fun'.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

One Month Later, Sunnydale High School, On the Way to Class 

_That was one serious close call last week._ Xander thought to the other tenant in his body.

**_Hey you were the one who wanted bug flambé._** Puck thought back from his position in the metaphorical 'back seat', **_I still think you should've let me clean up the mess that was left on Mrs. S's dining room floor. Now we won't be able to experience the delectable delight of her chocolate chip cookies!_**

_As much as I miss Joyce's cookies I had a hard enough time as it was explaining to the gang why I can suddenly do magic._ Xander thought to the Puck with sympathy, _We're just lucky that they bought your 'learned some Earth magic during research' excuse or else I have a feeling I'd be tied to a chair with Giles yelling "evil spirit I cast you out".'_

Puck had nothing to say to that as he turned a corner and saw the entrance to English class and that made it the first time in a month that the trickster had stopped talking or thinking or whatever. After finding Lady Useless a.k.a Buffy Summers the three of them (four if you counted Puck) had headed straight to the Summers home to regroup and try to figure out what was causing the chaos outside. Unfortunately Puck had proven to be more than a little restless being cooped up inside when there were so many 'interesting opportunities' to be had outside. Fortunately rescuing Cordelia and Deadboy's arrival had helped relieve some of the pressure building up in the trickster's 'prank tank' so things didn't get too bizarre. A grin formed on his face when he remembered what the Puck had done to have some fun with Angel and even now the look on Overbite's face afterwards had been priceless. Add to that the pranks and hi-jinks that followed and Xander could distinctly recall the exact moment he had wished that the fun would never end. Someone must have heard him because when the spell ended everyone else went back to normal for the most part with only a few lingering memories or bits of knowledge. He on the other hand just got control of his body back but as he found out when he got home and looked in the bathroom mirror he still had the trickster of Avalon inside of him. After some quick experimentation on his own, with some help from Puck, he found out that he now had a situation similar to the whole Owen Burnett-Puck thing. For the most part he walked around in a Xander shaped body living a Xander shaped life but when he permitted it or Puck wanted it bad enough they switched places. It had actually proved to be quite handy given some of the troubles the Scoobies had faced recently.

A week after Halloween it had helped him to figure out Ford the Fink's plans and after some judicious aging of the concrete around the edges of the bomb shelter door the asshole's plan to lock Buffy in 'til the vamps came fell through big time. Puck had wanted to do more but he didn't want to risk the gang finding out about his inner trickster just yet. He'd been honest to Puck when he described what the gang would do if they found out that the prankster of Avalon was still inside of him. Willow would want the trickster gone because of how the fae could make her blush on command. Buffy would want the child of Oberon gone because she didn't want him to move past the definition she had of him. Giles would simply not trust Puck simply because of his own brush with Eygon and his knowledge of 'A Midsummer's Night Dream'. Puck of course claimed that 'that hack Shakespeare' had gotten that little adventure of his all wrong but truth be told that was as much as the Xan-man wanted to know.

In any case it was only a few days ago that the real problem had happened. Spide and Dru had hired some assassin guild called the Order of Taraka to kill Buffy. Apparently these guys had a serious work ethic because according to Giles they'd just keep coming until the target was eliminated. Puck of course had to make the crack that Demona'd probably fit right in with those guys given her obsession with killing off the human race. He on the other hand had decided to stick by his friend no matter what which of course led to him and Cordy checking out Buffy's place after the blonde Slayer failed to check in. Things had been going fine up until Queen C decided to let her inner shopper come out to play when an assassin came by posing as a cosmetics salesman. When the guy turned out be made out of bugs and attacked them he'd acted on reflex and asked the Puck to fry him. It was only by mere chance that the trickster hadn't transformed right in front of Cordelia but it had left him in the uncomfortable spot of explaining how he did it to the others. Fortunately they'd bought his crap story but the mess the cooked bug assassin left on the floor of the Summers home had put him in the dog house as far as the Summers family was concerned.

**_Don't worry! They can't stay mad at you forever._** Puck thought to him dismissing the severity of the situation, **_Eventually they'll miss your sense of humour, much improved thanks to my tutoring, and beg you to come back._**

Entering the classroom he took his seat a row over from Buffy and Willow before getting out the necessary tools required if you wanted to learn something. When he looked to the front of the classroom though he noted the decided absence of the history teacher Mr. Jones. That was odd considering the man was usually waiting for them when they came in and the blackboard was usually covered with the notes they had to take down. Looking at the teacher's desk he noticed that it was rather bare aside from the stuff that was pretty much standard issue for every teacher hired at Sunnydale High School. Combine the two oddities and it all added up to Mr. Jones being the latest casualty of the demon of the week and that meant the Scoobies would be researching big time this evening.

_I think I might actually miss Mr. Jones._ Xander thought as he sat back in his seat, I actually liked the old guy's classes. _Unlike the rest of the faculty he knew what he was talking about and didn't have rod stuck up his butt._

Two minutes before he and the rest of the class were about to invoke the ten minute rule, which states that if a teacher doesn't show up for class within ten minutes you can leave, Snyder showed up with three teenage girls and a tall thirty-something woman. The three girls were absolute knockouts in his opinion and best of all they were identical triplets and that of course sent his mind to a very happy place. Dressed in clothes that were a cross of Buffy affordability and Cordy sexiness he knew that within a week every guy from jock to geek would be trying to get a date with **at least** one of them. The thirty-something woman was dressed like your text-book teacher but had looks that could have gotten her on TV if she auditioned. Brown hair, blue eyes and lips that would put Angelina Jolie's to shame made for one helluva package.

_I wonder who they are?_ He thought as he waited for Snyder to give his usual prison warden explanation.

"Listen up! Due to Mr. Jones unexpected resignation two days ago you have a new history teacher." Snyder said making it plain what would happen to the first student who interrupted him, "Her name is Alice Rice and I expect you to treat her with respect because I **will** hear about it if you don't. Also you have three new classmates who just moved to Sunnydale a week ago. They are Prue, Erika and Serena Sanders. I expect you punks to wait a least a week before trying to get them in the back of your cars."

_Something's fishy about this._ Xander thought as he tried to figure out what was setting off his Spidey sense, _Mr. Jones wasn't acting like he wanted to quit last week._

**_Given what goes on in this crazy town at night I'm surprised there's anyone still here! _**Puck thought at him with a tone that said he was puzzled as well, **_You're right that there's something fishy about these newbies. There's almost something familiar…_**

"They're all yours Ms. Rice. Feel free to give out detention slips as often as you want." Snyder said before leaving the room to terrorize some other students.

Surprisingly Ms. Rice and the Sanders triplets looked just as happy as the rest of the class that Herr Snyder was gone. Once everyone was certain that the impotent Nazi was long gone the new teacher turned to face the class but for some reason it felt like she was looking directly at him.

"Well class, contrary to what Mr. Snyder would have you believe, I hope to make this class as enjoyable as I can and still get you to learn something." Ms. Rice said in a voice that caused the alarms in Xander to go from fire alarm loud to red alert loud, "Prue, Erika, Serena? Please take a seat so we may get started."

The triplets nodded and began walking around the class apparently looking for a place where they could sit close together. Unfortunately for him his reputation as a geek and a freak had long ago made everyone want to keep at least one desk away from him in all directions. Which meant that in less than a minute he had three hot young ladies sitting within arm's reach with one on either side as well as one directly behind him. While the proximity to such prime candidates for the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue was definitely nice the looks they were giving him now and again were starting to make him nervous.

"After taking a look at Mr. Jones' lesson plan I see you've just finished chapter six so to start things off today you'll be taking a surprise quiz so I can see what you've learned." Ms. Rice said, much to the class' dismay, as she began going up and down the rows of students handing out the one page quiz.

The new teacher was about halfway through the class before she got to him but when she did Ms. Rice did something kind of weird. Instead of putting the quiz face down like everyone else's copy she had it face up on his desk and even stranger was what was written on it. It was a message of some kind but it was in a language he'd never seen before either in class or during research parties at the library. Picking up the sheet of paper he tried to get a closer look at it but the moment focused on it he felt Puck suddenly seize control of his body and look intensely at Ms. Rice. The teacher noticed this and seemed to give a friendly formal smile but there was a flicker in her eyes that said otherwise.

_Puck? What's going on? You're scaring the Xan-man._ Xander thought at his magical tenant as the trickster turned his head to look at Prue Sanders the same way he'd looked at the new history teacher.

When Prue Sanders gave him the same sort of 'friendly-but-not-quite' smile followed by Serena Sanders on his left his Sunnydale paranoia began to tip him off that maybe the prankster might be onto something. After examining the teacher and two of the three Sanders sisters Puck had apparently seen enough to confirm whatever hunch had set him off in the first place. Whatever it was had the fae distinctly worried but at the same time somewhat happy like some relatives he hadn't seen in awhile had… shown…

_Puck! Tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing!_ Xander thought at Puck as he did a slightly more covert examination of the newcomers.

**_Sorry amigo! Our worst fears have come true._** Puck thought at him in a tone that stated he had a bad feeling about something, **_The three harpies of Avalon and the wife of Big Daddy Oberon have come to Sunnydale!_**

_But they're fictional characters!_ Xander thought loudly as he tried to comprehend who had him boxed in and had served him with a surprise quiz.

**_Hey! So was I until a month ago buddy!_** Puck thought at him clearly offended at being called fictional, **_Still if they're from the cartoon like me then Titania should be able to keep the three harpies from frying either of us._** **_She always liked me._**

_And if they aren't?_ Xander thought at Puck inquiringly as he picked up a pencil and made it look like he was doing the quiz.

**_Then I hope you've got a plan for dealing with them because I'm sure drawing a blank! _**Puck thought at him not liking their chances one bit.

_Great!_ Xander thought at Puck crabbily as he had been hoping that the trickster would have some clue as to how to escape the wrath of the Weird Sisters and Titnaia, _Hopefully I'll at least get a date out of those three before they start with the torture and pain. At least then I'd be going out with a happy!_

**_You can't be serious!_** Puck thought at him shocked that someone would actually want to date his three harpy-like sisters.

_Hey! Can I help it if they're **hot**?_ Xander thought at Puck as he covertly did some appraising of the teenage forms of the Weird Sisters, _Besides if they're going to kill me I should at least get something out of the deal!_

**_Those are my sisters you're talking about!_** Puck thought extra loud at him as he obviously did not like the thoughts bouncing around Xander's head concerning his sisters.

_Exactly! Your sisters, not mine._ Xander thought at Puck as he enjoyed being able to get a rise out of the trickster for a change, _If you don't like what you're seeing in there then just find a corner of my mind and lock yourself inside. I'll knock when it's safe to come out._

The sound of the door slamming in his mind came through loud and clear.


	5. A Shift in the World

"_A Shift in the World: The Rebirth Avalanche"_

_BtVS/FF7_

_(Season 4 in BtVS. After the conclusion of FF7)_

"So Wills what's the verdict?" Xander asked with rapt attention as he waited for his best friend to relate to him the results of the test he had just finished.

To this question the red haired wicca was a little torn since on one hand she had to deal with a blonde Slayer who was looking at her friend to side with her and on the other hand she had her best friend since pre-school. Both of them were looking for her to deliver the results and declare them the winner the bet that had been made almost three weeks ago. It had begun simply enough with Buffy bringing home her first serious test from her psychology class. The Slayer had been completely upset both with how hard the test had been in the first place and how poorly she did despite an honest effort at studying. She had passed the test at least but only just barely and had been bemoaning how unfair it was for Professor Walsh to give them such a hard test to first year students. In the beginning both he and Willow had been sympathetic and had done their best to cheer their friend up at the Bronze. While they experienced some success on that front the Slayer was still annoyingly determined to rant about the unfairness of university life. Eventually it had gotten so bad that he had snarked at her that she was exaggerating the difficulty of the test and that given two weeks to study he could ace it completely. From there things had devolved into a variation of 'can-cannot' with him being the former and the Slayer being the latter. Eventually he had gotten tired of the argument, if it could indeed be called that with neither side putting evidence to support their case forward, he had decided to make her a bet. He would borrow her psych books and spend the next two weeks straight studying the chapters that the class had gone through thus far that term. At the end of the two weeks if he managed a B+ or better then he would be given free reign to choose Halloween costumes for the gang this year. When Buffy had mentioned that they weren't required to wear costumes or even go out this year since there was no kiddie chaperon program at UC Sunnydale. He had countered with the fact that there would most certainly be Halloween parties going on both on and off campus run by university students. Heck! Fraternities and maybe a few of the sororities would likely be having parties with an open door policy to just about anyone within a certain age range. When he, reluctantly, commented that maybe that teacher's assistant she had been talking about could join them he wasn't sure she'd take the bait. Much to his not surprise that had apparently clinched the deal and so they shook on it.

Now here they were, two and a half weeks later, waiting for Willow, who had been chosen to mark the test, to reveal which one of them had one the bet. Needless to say she probably knew she would likely get yelled at one way or another and once he saw her 'Resolve Face' appear he knew the results were forthcoming.

"Well after some thorough checking and heavy scrutiny of the test and the answers both multiple choice as well as short answer there was only one grade I could give this test." Willow said so officially that it was obvious she was trying to build up suspense, "A-!"

"What?" Buffy exclaimed as she repositioned herself so she could look at the test herself which Willow had been holding in such a way so as to make it impossible for anyone but her to see.

"YES! TAKE THAT BUFF'!" Xander crowed as he did a mini-Snoopy dance to celebrate his winning the bet.

"B-b-but t-that…! H-he couldn't have!" Buffy stuttered as she looked over the test for any sign of a mistake in the marking using her own test results as a reference.

Xander of course didn't notice since as far as he was concerned it was far more interesting to revel in his victory than waiting for Buffy to admit defeat. After all despite the fact that her marks were lower than Willow's in high school (heck everyone's marks were lower than Willows as far as he knew) they were easily above his own. While he did get high enough marks to graduate from high school it was only by the slimmest of margins. That was the untold reason why he hadn't tried to go with Buffy and Willow to UC Sunnydale along with the decided lack of sufficient funds for tuition. After all if he could just barely scrape by in high school level studies then how was he going to handle the university workload that Buff and Willow had to deal with. No he decided that rather than make himself look more stupid by trying to hack it at university life and fail he'd go straight into the workforce. True a university degree would open a lot of doors in terms of jobs it wasn't absolutely essential for a bachelor like himself to support himself. Given the low property rates and rent fees thanks to the demons it was surprisingly cheap to get a place as well as all the other essentials. Not so cheap that he could survive on a minimum wage job but low enough that if he applied himself he could manage well enough. Still to be able to do so kick ass on a test that the Buffmeister, the Slayer herself, had to struggle with just to get a passing grade was a complete rush!

"Looks like you lose Buffy." He said trying to reign in his smugness since it was not wise to anger a Slayer, "I'll stop by yours and Willows dorm room with your guys' costumes Halloween morning. Until then I think I'll let you guys squirm trying to figure out what I'm going to choose for each of you guys. Oh and let Oz as well as Riley know as well just so they don't get blindsided completely."

"What?" Buff and Willow exclaimed at the same time but for entirely different reasons.

For Buffy it was the simple fact that he wasn't going to tell them what costumes they'd be wearing that got her mad but for Willow she was more afraid of the look on her best friend's face. Unlike Buffy she had known Xander since they were both five years old and as such knew him as well as she knew herself more or less. The look her friend had on his face right now was a special one that she had only seen a handful of times and each time it meant trouble not only for him but for whomever he was aiming it at. The last time she had seen it on his face was when he had managed to convince both her and Jessie it would be so funny to slip blue dye into the Chase family swimming pool. It was when the Chase family had first moved into town and so Cordelia's parents had decided it would be a good idea for their daughter to invite all the kids in her class to her birthday party. Needless to say after seeing their own daughter as blue as Smurfette neither she nor Jessie and especially not Xander were ever invited back and thus the feud between Cordy and the three of them began. Remembering that day and the consequences a bad feeling began to form in her stomach and she just knew that nothing good could come of the look on Xander's face.

_I just hope it doesn't get me and Buffy expelled in the end!_ She thought to herself as she tried to reassure herself that everything would be fine.

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_**One Week Later, Halloween Morning, Saturday**_

Outside Zack's Costume Store 

_The day is finally here and **MAN** won't the gang we surprised when they see their costumes!_ Xander thought to himself as he got out of his pick up truck, _Times like these I wish I had enough spare cash to afford a camera just so I can snap a few pics of their faces when they open the bags._

It had been a difficult week when the stress of the job was added to with at least one member of the gang asking him every day for at least a hint about what their costumes were going to be like. At first it was simply a question that came up in conversation but then it evolved into the gang asking outsiders or new members to pop the question to him before finally finishing Thursday and Friday with bribery. It had been tempting, six boxes of Twinkies from Willow and an invitation to a scantily clad slumber party from Buffy, but in the end he managed to stay strong despite the devil on his shoulder calling him an idiot. After the two young women had left in defeat he came to the conclusion that they were just trying to trick him especially Buffy since he knew the raincoat incident in high school was still considered a secret on pain of death thing with her. As for Willow he was reasonably certain that she would have gotten him the six boxes like she promised but when he thought of the gang in the costumes he'd selected he knew the looks on their faces would be worth twice the amount of Twinkies she was offering.

Entering the store he could see that there were already quite a few other residents of Sunnydale making the last dash for a suitable costume before nightfall but not as many as he would have thought there would be considering the quality costumes. Then again the store was pretty new, only a few months old, so most likely not many people had heard of it yet or knew of its superiority to Party Town. After all while Party Town had high quality stuff it was mostly just the traditional Halloween get ups like vampires and witches. In Zacks though the costumes were not only good for a place that just opened but also the selection was to die for. Not literally of course. In fact he decided to forget he just thought that considering what town he was in and what he did with the gang at night. Whatever! In any case the costumes here were great and were more centered on popular TV shows, movies, cartoons, Anime and books rather than the clichéd outfits of Halloweens past. It was here that he had spotted the costumes he wanted on display when he had left the gang to look for their outfits and the moment he saw them he asked the owner of the store to put them on layaway until his paycheck came in on Thursday. Fortunately the guy seemed all too willing to put the six costumes in back for him and while it was probably because of the profit the guy would make he still asked Giles if he had heard of any chaos mages coming into town recently. It had been a bit tense when the Watcher had asked him why he wanted to know but when he reminded G-Man about Ethan Rayne Giles understood that the Zeppo was just being cautious. It took half the day and a weird funky spell but eventually the Watcher was able to promise with the utmost certainty that not a hint of chaos magic could be detected coming from Zack's shop.

_What a load off my mind that was especially considering who I plan to dress up as tonight._ He thought as he moved to the cash register where the owner was helping a customer, _I don't think I could handle being **him** for a night much less stay sane with his memories afterwards._

"Hey Xander! You here for the costumes?" Zack asked after handing the customer her change.

"Yep! Is everything ready to go?" he asked eagerly as the anticipation was beginning to rise inside of him.

"Sure we can go in back and get them as soon as you hand over the money." Zack replied in a friendly but 'money up front' kind of way.

Reaching into his back pocket he took out the envelope that he had put the amount of money he needed into after cashing his paycheck. It had been quite a bit but luckily had enough money left to handle rent and groceries after this. He just wouldn't be able to indulge in any junk food for the next two weeks but hey that was what tonight was for after all. He'd totally pig out and use the sugary goodness from tonight to hold him over until the next paycheck was handed to him. Sliding the envelope with the cash in it over to Zack he watched the guy pick it up and then thumb through the bills inside clearly wanting to check to see if it was all there. This annoyed him quite a bit since it was pretty much the same as the guy saying 'can this deadbeat son of a drunken asshole really pay' to his face. Not that he could exactly blame the guy given the reputation that the Harris family had but the way he saw it he was nothing like his parents and didn't deserve to be treated as such.

"You don't have to worry. It's all there." He said trying to sound neutral but given the look on Zack's face he could tell some of his annoyance had come through.

"So it is." Zack said as he took the cash out and put it into the register, "Don't take it the wrong way kid but I gotta make sure no one rips me off so soon after opening. I got debts that need to be paid so every cent counts. Can't afford too many 'discounts' if you know what I mean."

"Yeah whatever. Let's just get the costumes I **paid** for alright." Xander said as his mood stayed sour despite Zack's reasons for his behavior.

"Tell you what. To make it up to you I'll give you that costume that was unavailable when you came in last time." Zack said as he led the way to the back room, "I was holding it in reserve for someone else but the guy hasn't shown up yet and doesn't sound like he will before closing time. So since it's a part of the set you're buying I'll give it to you free of charge. How does that sound?"

"But I only need six costumes." Xander stated as his annoyance gave way to neutral confusion.

"So give one of your friends a choice rather then just sticking them with one." Zack suggested as he looked about the room for Xander's order, "After all there's always the chance that the one of them won't be able to fit in the costume you give them. 'Sides which all it'll be doing here is gathering dust. Might as well try to put it to good use right?"

"I guess so." Xander replied as he watched Zack zero in on one particular grouping of bags and props in the far right corner of the room.

"You need any help getting these out to your truck?" Zack asked as he handed the Zeppo the first bag along with an absurdly long katana.

"Naw I should be able to handle it myself." Xander replied as he took the large bag and sword from Zack, "My trucks parked out front so I don't have that far to go anyway. What could happen?"

Of course if Xander had been a little more thoughtful of his choice of words rather than thinking about who he was going to show the extra costume to he might have remembered that it was **never** wise to say something like that on the Hellmouth.

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Walking Away from Manheim's Magic Shop, Roughly the Same Time 

"So do we have everything?" Jonathan asked as the three of them walked back to the van with their respective armloads of magical ingredients and talismans.

"Let's see: hair of Loki check, essence of Proteus check, therieanthrope blood check, tears of Circe check, Qora claws check, Janus bust check and Nagas fangs." Andrew replied as he checked his own load and what the others were carrying, "Yep we have everything! Heck we could probably cast the spell three times with what we bought."

"That's the whole point." Warren said as if it should have been common sense, "Why get the powers of just one super villain when we can get the power of **three** super villains? If we play our cards right there won't be a being on the planet capable of stopping us."

"We'll be like **gods**!" Andrew declared with excitement as his eyes started to sparkle with the things he could do with that kind of power.

The others shared in the blonde member of their team in daydreaming about what they'd do once the spell was complete. It had started out simply enough a month ago when they had been sitting in Warren's basement trying to decide what to do with their lives. It had been a cool enough with them doing what most teenagers do during the summer months but when September came around they had to think about their futures. All of them had pretty high I.Qs but unfortunately due to several 'incidents' involving magic or the demonic there was always something that caused places like M.I.T to send rejection letters. For Jonathan it was the whole 'rifle in the bell tower' thing and even though he had gone up there to commit suicide people still thought that was an excuse and that he had really gone up there to start shooting at people. In any case it wasn't the sort of incident that universities or other bastions of higher learning smiled on when looking at who to admit and who to reject.

For Andrew his lack of acceptance letters could be traced to his brother Tucker who had unleashed a pack of hellhounds to kill people at the Prom. While no one actually used the word 'hellhound' the older Wells brother was charged with illegal possession of dangerous animals and cruelty to animals once they saw the movies the hellhounds had been subjected to while caged. It hadn't led to any prison time for the elder brother but the legal fees and fines had been enough that Tucker had been shipped off to his Uncle's home in New Jersey and Andrew without the money to pay even the lowest tuition fees.

As for Warren it all boiled down to a case of his deadbeat dad leaving him and his mother a week after graduation taking everything of value with him. Left with only his mother to support the two of them university and college became an impossibility since they barely had enough money to put food on the table. Even his illegal hacking of bank accounts didn't give him enough money to meet half of the costs of going to university.

That left all three of them with no way of going in the direction they had wanted to academically and that brought them to Warren's basement. Talk of the things that caused them to be excluded from the college set eventually caused Warren to have a brainstorm. He remembered the Halloween night in their third year of high school when they had gone out trick or treating only to get caught up in the chaos of certain people turning into their costumes. Fortunately they had managed to make it to the school and lock themselves in a classroom where they'd be safe for the rest of the night. For the most part they had just went into denial like everyone else the next day and went on like nothing happened. Now two years later Warren had gone on a torrent about how such a spell could be used to their advantage. From there the basic outline of their master plan had been made: find out what spell was cast and find a way to make the changes stick minus the fictional character's spirit. They'd get all the power and knowledge of the characters they dressed up as without the second mind trying to take control.

It had taken awhile and a few timed distractions to get into the place that used to be "Ethan's" and cast the spell of revelation that would show them exactly what the Brit store owner had done. It had taken a few moments to sift through the layers of previous owners and a few vampires that had squatted in the place when it had been abandoned but eventually they got what they wanted. From there until just a week ago it had been an exhaustive research session to find out how to modify the spell to meet their needs as well as negate any negative side effects. Fortunately they had managed to trick, buy or manipulate owners of various spell and reference books into loaning the volumes to them for a period of time. Several times it had gotten them so frustrated and angry that at least one of them had contemplated killing one of the others but eventually it all panned out. The modified spell wasn't pretty but all their research and 'polite inquiries' said that it should work like they wanted. Of course Jonathan was a little worried considering that some of their sources of information considered humans 'food' or 'trash' but both Warren and Andrew were certain that they had gotten the truth.

Today was the day though and hopefully by this time tomorrow they would possess powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. They had already picked out their costumes, which were waiting back at Warren's place, but they had to hurry since they had quite a lot of set up work to do.

"Yeah! We will rule over the land with iron fists! We'll destroy anyone who gets in our way! We'lllooooops!" Andrew declared grandly but then found out why it was important to watch where you were stepping especially when one's arms are full.

With his right foot getting snagged on some bags that were set on the ground next to a pick up truck the youngest Wells son yelped in surprise throwing his load of ingredients into the air on reflex in order to free his arms so that he could stop himself from falling. In this he succeeded as he grabbed a hold of the back end of the truck in time to push himself back into an upright position. The down side to this though was that the spell ingredients that had been thrown into the air had no one to catch them and they knew it. So they decided to make the screw up total by dumping every last bit of themselves from their containers or bottles onto the bags that Andrew had tripped over. Each and every one of the ingredients got sprinkled/dumped/poured liberally over the entire collection of bags making quite a mess. For a moment it looked like Warren might start tearing Andrew a new one for dropping all of his expensive spell components but that changed when they saw who was coming out of the costume shop. One Xander LaVelle Harris, former Sunnydale High School classmate and known friend of one Buffy Summers. While they didn't know the whole story about Buffy and her friends they did know that they were the resident white hats of Sunnydale. This was a problem because if Harris got word back to Summers about what they were planning it was all over. She'd show up and start tossing them around like pint sized Jawas before they could get their power ups and toss **her** around like Miss Piggy. In that moment they had two choices: a) they could try to cast a spell on Xander to make him lose his immediate short-term memory or b) they could make a break for the van and hope that Harris couldn't identify them. The first was within their power and didn't require any ingredients to perform but it carried the risk of bringing Summers here to investigate what could have erased her friends' memory. If she came here she might ask around at Manheim's Magic Shop and figure out what they were up to in time to stop it. After all the three of them were frequent enough visitors to Manheim's that the owner would be able to give Buffy all the info she needed. That left option two as the only half decent choice and so without further debate Warren Mears, Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinsion ran for the black van as fast as their feet could carry them.

With a screech of tires they sped out of the parking lot as fast as they could leaving the male founding member of the Scooby gang wondering what was going on and how hard it would be to clean up the costumes.

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In Front of the Summers Family Home, One Hour Later 

_If I ever catch the three twerps in that van I'm going to find the most disgusting pile of crap I can find and bury them in it!_ Xander thought to himself as he got out of the truck and reached for the two bags he'd need as well as the props that went with them, _If it hadn't for the fact that there was a Laundromat nearby the costumes would be completely ruined. _

He had only left the costumes unattended for a minute while he helped Zack dig out the last few props from beneath the pile of boxes in the back room. It couldn't have been more than five minutes and despite the lethal nightlife crime in Sunnydale was actually less than what one would expect for a town this size. Made sense when you took into account that most of the best hideouts in town were already occupied by vamps and demons. Any crook looking for a place to hide from the cops had a four in five chance of walking into a vampire lair and becoming some bloodsucker's mid-day snack. So imagine his surprise when he exited the store to see three guys roughly his own age running away from the back of his truck, diving into a van and laying down some serious rubber in getting out of the parking lot as fast as they could. At first he had thought that the three unknown's had stolen one of his costumes but when he raced around to where he had dropped the outfits he found out that the truth was far more disgusting. From one side to the other, from one **end** to the other, the group of costumes and props that made up the Halloween costumes he had chosen for the gang were covered in unknown powders and substances. The only saving grace for him was that because of how the costumes were positioned in their bags and the narrow opening of said bags only a specific section of the costumes got hit. Still he had decided not to take any chances and went directly to get them all cleaned before any stains or smells had a chance to set in. It had taken the rest of the cash he had on him making him glad he had gotten the necessities like rent and groceries out of the way before coming for the costumes. By the time the last outfit came out of the dryer he was thankful to see that while you could see a couple of dark patches on the costumes they could be explained away as part of 'the look'.

Picking up the two that he figured would suit Dawn best and that she'd get a kick out of wearing he tucked the oversized throwing star under his arm and headed for the front door. After a quick knock he waited wondering who'd answer the door first considering it was a Saturday morning. If someone had knocked on his apartment door on a Saturday morning he'd either still be asleep or in front of his twenty-inch TV watching cartoons. In both cases he would be inclined to ignore the person until they went away and only answer if the person talked or kept knocking for more than five minutes. In this case it wasn't the home of an independent bachelor he had to consider but the home of a single mother and her high school attending daughter. That meant that Dawn was likely either still in bed or watching cartoons with Joyce probably in the kitchen or down at the art gallery doing paperwork or something. Personally he was hoping that Mrs. Summers was at work because he wasn't crazy about seeing her reaction to the costumes he was going to let Dawnie pick from. After all they probably didn't have enough fabric by a mother's standards and while one would make sure certain unmentionables were covered the shorts were so short that Dawn-patrol bending over would probably cause the seat to rip.

It only took a minute but eventually the door whipped open to reveal Dawn wearing a tank top and sweats combo which he presumed was her basic sleepwear and an attempt to get away from the 'Alladin' pajamas she used to wear to bed.

"Xander!" she exclaimed before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

Normally he would have returned the hug but given that his hands were otherwise occupied holding bags and keeping the extra large shuriken from falling to the ground he just stood there waiting for her to release him. After three minutes of nothing but hugging he decided that he'd better speak up before the neighbors caught sight of them and started to ask questions.

"Uh, Dawn, mind letting me go and inviting me in?" he asked as casually as he could, "After all standing out here with you in your jammys like this can't be good for our health especially mine if one of your neighbors tells your mom about this later."

This had the desired effect of getting her to release him but the smile on her face told him it was more her own choice than fear of the neighbors.

"Don't worry. If Mrs. Jamison tells on us I'll just tell Mom that the old bag lets her dog do her business on the front lawn." Dawn replied as she stepped aside to let him inside, "And if Mr. Perkins says anything I'll just remind him that he should close the blinds in his room when he gets up in the morning. Those two are the only real busybodies in this neighborhood so it's pretty much keep those two quiet and everything else takes care of itself."

"O-kay. Gotcha!" Xander said almost mechanically as he tried to figure out how someone a little over halfway through high school could be so sneaky.

Then again he figured that with Buffy as a big sister and Joyce as a mother Dawn would have had to be pretty inventive perhaps even evil if she wanted to get her way with either of them. Sorta made him wonder what sort of blackmail material she had on him but as soon as his imagination began manufacturing possibilities he shut it down and decided he **so** didn't wan to know. Following the youngest Summers girl into the living room where apparently she **had** been watching cartoons he plopped both bags and the tire size throwing star on the couch. Looking at the two bags and knowing what was inside he felt he had an idea which one the Dawn-meister would choose given what she said at the front door. It fit so perfectly and thankfully he had made sure to get a rough idea from Mrs. Summers about both Dawn and Buffy's measurements earlier in the week so both of the outfits would fit either sister. Of course he had originally just been there for Buffy's measurements but when he had explained the situation to Mrs. Summers she had '**requested**' that Dawn be allowed to tag along. Of course it had looked and sounded more like an order but he figured that it was not a good idea to say something like that to a woman holding a butcher knife. He still had no idea how he was going to explain this to Buffy and the others but he'd fall off that bridge when he came to it.

"Alright Dawn-patrol! We got two costumes for you to choose from so you can join the gang for a night of sugery goodness." Xander said as he took the outfits out of the bags and set them on either side of the couch so the taller but younger Summers girl could get a good look at them, "First on the left we have the costume of an elite female ninja who also happens to be the heir to a throne. She's got a smart mouth that could put Buffy's to shame in five seconds flat but has is something of a klepto. On the right though we have a gal who is second in command of a major resistance/terrorist group determined to bring down a corrupt corporate empire. So which one will it be?"

Dawn stood in front of the two outfits with a look of careful consideration on her face but he knew it was just an act because he doubted any high school student carefully considered anything they did where fun was a possibility. Then again it was clothes they were talking about here and if there was one thing that women universally debate to the point of being anal was 'what to wear'. He knew this from the few times that he had been dragged along by both Buffy and Willow on an expedition to the mall for new 'first week of classes' clothes. True he had been lucky enough to avoid that this year since he didn't get back from his brief cross country trip but he could still vividly remember the shopping trips that came before. Those trips were minefields for guys both because of the unique female gift to be able to tell 'sea blue' from 'sky blue' and the difficult question 'does this outfit make me look fat'. Needless to say that moments like those were some of the few moments when making sure your mouth was full could save a man's life.

"This one!" Dawn said as she picked up the costume that he hadn't expected her to go for and the one he currently thought was going to get him killed later.

After all it was written into a mother's genes that any sort of sexy clothes were forbidden where their daughters were concerned and Buffy would have similar opinions about her 'kid sister' wearing an outfit like that. Though personally he thought that Buffy might be just a **teensy** bit jealous of Dawn in the looks department. After all Dawn was taller than Buffy by a good few inches and though he'd never say this out loud had the potential to be quite jaw dropper as far as the guys were concerned. Of course any of his own thoughts in that direction were immediately and ruthlessly suppressed by 'she is barely a teenager' and 'she is Buffy's sister' thoughts. Now if she had been born Buffy's twin sister or maybe even slightly older cousin it would be a completely different story but as long as she was younger than him as well as related to the blonde Slayer she was off limits. So the 'always be my little girl/sister' way of thinking combined with the 'that involves entirely too little fabric' sentiment would make for an explosive combination later tonight unless Dawn managed to sneak out of the house and come up with a convincing reason to keep Buffy from dragging her home the second they saw each other.

"You sure?" he asked as he made an attempt to save himself from any potential blame for her choice of Halloween costume, "You know both your mom and Buffy are going to freak if they see you in that."

"Yeah! Won't be great!" Dawn replied as she held up the sleeveless sweater/shirt part of the costume that was cut so the wearer's stomach would show, "Besides don't you think I'd look great in it?"

"You'd definitely look **unique**." He replied figuring that the response he picked was the safest answer he could give especially if Dawnie used it in her argument with Buffy later.

"Want me to try it on? Just to make sure it fits alright?" she asked with a strange look in her eyes that sent a shiver up his spine for some unknown reason.

"Well you can check to see if it fits but I have to drop off the rest of these costumes to the rest of the gang ASAP just in case there's a size problem." He replied as casually as possible.

"Okay." Dawn said sounding disappointed that he was leaving so soon, "See you tonight then?"

"Sure thing. We'll be hooking up at the Espresso Pump." He replied as he grabbed the other costume and its prop, "Be there around six thirty 'kay! Bye!"

With that he was out the door and on his way to his next stop.

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Buffy and Willow's Dorm Room, One Hour Later 

"Well guys and gals your costume critic is here with your outfits for this evening!" Xander said in his best Bob Barker voice, "Please keep in mind that I have personally hand picked who will get which costume and my decisions are final."

Looking about the room he could tell that not everyone was happy with the way he phrased that but still seemed willing to hold up their end of the bet. Buffy was willing because despite her bouts of 'holier than thou' with her status as the Slayer she was a decent enough person to stay true to her word once it was given. Willow was playing along no doubt because she trusted him and because she felt a certain obligation as the blonde Slayer's friend to share the humiliation/fun. Oz was being the loyal boyfriend as far as could be told by the look on his face but aside from that Xander had no clue what was going on in the guitarist's head. As for Riley he was carefully neutral in how he was taking this but the Zeppo knew that could change once the costumes were handed out. In which case it would probably be best to get him out of the way first and then move onto the others.

"Okay Riley here's your costume." Xander said as he picked up the bag with the blonde wig sticking out of it along with the oversized sword, "I know it looks funny but this guy is a totally kick ass fighter and a former member of an elite combat unit known for accepting only the elite of the elite into their ranks."

Riley seemed to take this in stride and after taking a few practice swings with the sword to get a feel for it grinned to show he was happy with his outfit.

"Oz, you were pretty hard to choose for seeing as how I don't know what goes on inside that head of yours." Xander said as he handed the musician the appropriate bag with an extendable rod sticking out, "So I figured having you dress up as a guy who likes to speak his mind and is fairly easy to read might help me with that."

Oz didn't even look in the bag so Xander took that as a sign that he was cool with everything.

"Willow with you there were only a few characters to choose from and since two of the three have already been assigned you'll be getting the third." Xander explained as he brought over the second last bag and the extra large shuriken, "It might not be your traditional ghost costume but I think you'll like it. She's the heir to throne and a highly skilled ninja to boot. Her only real flaws would be her smart mouth and the fact that she's something of a klepto but I think the costume will look good on you."

His best bud since pre-school didn't look thrilled at the idea of dressing up as someone with 'want, take, have' impulse issues but it didn't look like she was going to make a big deal of it.

"Finally we came to you Buffy. When I thought about which costume would be best for you I couldn't help but get a major flashback to Ethan's store and you saying that Halloween was 'come as you aren't' night." Xander said as he took the last bag along with the staff with weighted ends over to the blonde Slayer, "This character was something of a spiritual person who was thoughtful and optimistic with a knack for keeping the team together when it looked like it might fall apart. Also while this staff may not look like much you can build up some wicked momentum thanks to the weights on the ends."

Buffy frowned at this but took the staff and after giving it a few twirls (with a little 'amateur' thrown in so as not to tip Riley off that she wasn't a normal university gal) she gave him a grin that told him 'it would do'.

"Well if you guys are happy I think I'll take spin by Giles' place and see if… uh… he needs any help setting up for the trick-or-treaters." He said fumbling mid-sentence as he realized that he had almost spilled the beans in front of the T.A.

"See you at the Espresso Pump then?" Willow said as she realized what the situation was and made a move to aide him in his escape.

"Sure. Say around sevenish?" he asked as he looked at his watch.

"Sevenish it is then." Buffy said voicing the unanimous vote of the group.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Giles' Apartment, Noon 

"So G-man! The sitch still the same or should I call of Halloween?" Xander said as he walked right into the Watcher's place without so much as a knock.

"N-no nothing new thankfully. I checked with all of my local sources and skimmed through the relevant books for any prophecies but there is nothing to suggest that something will happen tonight." Giles replied as he walked out of the kitchen with twin bowls of Halloween treats, "And don't call me that infernal name."

Xander just grinned at the G-Man's response glad to know that he could still get the Brit with that after all this time. Still he was glad that Giles' sources still declared Halloween baddie and spell free. It had been something that he had started a year after the costume chaos caper with that Rayne guy and had decided to make it a tradition. Every year about a week or two prior to All Hallows Eve he would have Giles sniff around for signs that someone was planning a repeat of the chaos mage's spell or something worse. After all while Halloween might be considered by the world at large as being a complete snooze fest for the demonic and undead that one stunt with Ethan prove that there were exceptions to the rule. Add to that the fact that they were on a Hellmouth and the odds of something happening to ruin an otherwise peaceful evening meant a better than fifty-fifty odds that something would happen. So he figured that forewarned was forearmed and all that so any advance warning of something hellmouthy happening would be of the good.

"Cool. So you gonna welcome the little rugrats aux natural or are you gonna get dressed up?" Xander asked before grabbing a handful of treats from one of the bowls as Giles walked by.

"Not overly no. I have a sombrero and poncho that should suffice for tonight." Giles replied patiently apparently deciding to not even bother trying to reprimand the Zeppo for helping himself to the candy.

"Giles, Giles, Giles! I'm happy that you actually decided to put some effort into getting into the spirit of things but trust me when I say that a tweed wearing British cowboy won't cut it tonight." Xander said shaking his head in wonder at how someone who was supposed to be smarter than him screwing up such a simple thing, "Fortunately for you I have just the thing to solve the problem."

Before the Watcher could say anything for or against the young bachelor's statement Xander ran back out the door and returned with what looked like a metal pole with a machete stuck to the top as well as the costume bag Zack had given him for free. He hadn't looked in the bag but he figured that if it was anything like the other costumes, which had been on display when he had spotted them, then it should fit the Watcher well enough. Plus as long as he had the outfit he might as well put it to good use and it was most definitely a step up from the spaghetti western outfit Giles had intended to wear.

Giles looked a little confused as his mind was no doubt trying to figure out who exactly the young man intended to have him dress up as tonight. Given that the Watcher seemed to be stuck fifty years or more in the past the Zeppo knew there was no chance in the world G-Man would be able to figure it out. If the man wouldn't go near a computer then there was no way he'd know about the cast of characters that this outfit came from.

"Despite what you might be thinking **no** it's not a Captain Ahab outfit." Xander said in order to stop the older man's train of thought before it could pick up speed, "You know how you said once that all you wanted to be was a grocer or a fighter pilot growing up? Well this guy was an aircraft designer, engineer and the first person on his planet to make it into outer space. Add to that that he could kick some serious ass with this spear thing and this outfit makes your Clint Eastwood one look like a cheap stained tuxedo."

While for a moment it looked like the Watcher would take exception to the comment about his attempt at a Halloween costume eventually G-Man took the bag from Xander to have a peek inside. After a few moments of barely recognizable looks of examination and scrutiny as well as one last look at the pole-machete-thing Giles eventually sighed and took the offered costume in acceptance. Smiling with victory for a moment, happy to have made some headway in bringing Giles into the late twentieth century, he quickly banished the smile when it looked like it might make G-Man reconsider.

"Well with that out of the way I'm gonna head back to my place to catch a quick snooze before hooking up with Willow and the others later." Xander said as he popped a few of those sweet and sour Aspirin candies into his mouth, "Maybe we'll swing by later. See ya G-Man!"

With that he zipped out of the apartment closing the door behind him before the Watcher could say anything to the effect of 'no it is not necessary for you or the others to visit later and see me in this atrocious costume'. He figured if he didn't give the Brit time to voice his objections Giles would just have to accept that it was going to happen whether he liked it or not. He also felt safe in assuming that Giles wouldn't change his mind about ditching the Eastwood costume for the newly proposed alternative. A certain glee ran through him when he pictured how the entire gang would look later tonight and made a note to get a group photo to remember the historic moment by.

_After all it's not like I'm ever going to get them to agree to something like this again._ He thought as he got into his truck and headed home.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Warren's Basement, 4:00p.m.**_

"Do you think he recognized us?" Andrew asked as his eyes darted in a quick glance towards the basement windows facing the street.

"For the **last** time **NO**!" Warren snapped as he continued to set out the costumes they had picked out for the first successful casting of their modified spell.

It had been like this off an on all day since the three of them had almost been spotted by Xander Harris outside some costume shop. Off and on like an annoying five year old fiddling with the light switch just because it annoyed everyone else in the room. The only time that Andrew had stopped asking the question was when he had to do his part in drawing the diagrams on the floor for the spell. Warren had been tempted to just tell the moron to leave and come back at seven when they'd be casting the actual spell but unfortunately Wells was the only one among them who could read the magic books properly. It was the way that their team worked: he was the techno-genius, Jonathan was the magic guy and Andrew was the book nerd. With all of them pooling their talents they'd made this plan work and in just three hours they'd finally be rewarded for their all night research sessions. Right now though he was becoming seriously tempted to knock the idiot unconscious by 'accident' and then dope him up until it was time for the spell. Unfortunately he had yet to think up a convincing and convenient way to do it that wouldn't look suspicious to Jonathan. So that meant, for better or worse, that until they succeeded in casting the spell and gained the power they desired he would just have to put up with the annoying asshole.

_After my power up though I won't need these two losers anymore. _Warren thought as he began to apply the necessary ingredients to the costumes, _I'll have more than enough power on my own to do whatever I want! After all no one short of Superman could stand up to this guy in the comic books or the cartoon series. _

True the costumes that Jonathan and Andrew picked out would make them powerful as well but nowhere close as powerful as he would be. Still they would make good minions and enforcers to stamp out any opposition to his desire to rule the world. Then again given the egos of the people his 'partners' were going to become it was possible they'd get it into their heads that they could defy him or even kill him.

_I'll probably have to make an example of at least one of them to make it clear to the other one what a bad idea it'd be to defy me._ He thought as he finished with one ingredient and moved onto the next, _Given who they're dressing up as I'll make it Jonathan. His character might technically be the more powerful of the two but he'll be harder to keep under control than Andrew will be after the spell is broken. After all his character already submitted to one dark master so why not have him do it again._

"You don't have to be so snappy!" Andrew complained as he backed away a few steps, "I'm just saying that if Xander told Buffy she could be on her way right now."

"We got the ingredients this morning! If Xander did think something was going on that Buffy needed to know about she would have been here hours ago." Warren replied as he restrained the desire to smack the blonde boy, "Now go back to drawing the diagrams for the spell and make sure you get the one beneath the bust right. We can't afford to have that teleportation spell mess up and shatter Janus too soon."

"Alright! Alright! Sheesh!" Andrew said as he went over to where the different colored chalk was and did as he was told.

Despite the way that he had said it he was telling the truth when he said that screwing up the teleportation spell would be bad. According to the research they had all done the spell to make the costume changes to their beings permanent the magic would have to remain in effect for at least an hour. It would take that long for the necessary changes to happen and then be rendered permanent by the modified portion of Ethan's chaos spell. Given that at least two of the three person's they be transformed into would have the necessary skills and abilities to trace their displacement to the bust of Janus it was crucial that it be elsewhere before their altered selves could regain their senses. At the same time though it would be required to give their costumes an idea of what was going on so that the bust would be destroyed and the spell brought to an end. Andrew and Jonathan had taken care of that by constructing what looked like a mini hologram generator that looked like it belonged on the set of Star Wars. In truth it was a heavily disguised talisman that they used to record a three dimensional recording, almost identical to a holographic projection, which not only would feed their alternate selves a bullshit story about their current predicament but also the only way they could return to their respective homes. With a little luck, as well as the obscuring wards placed around the 'beam in' site, it would take them an hour or more to locate the bust and destroy it. True with the sort of power two of the three costumes possessed it would be well within their power to lay waste to all of Sunnydale immediately rather than search for one stone head. However all three of them were reasonably certain that wouldn't happen since the two costumes that could cause such devastation were more efficient in how they did things. They preferred to deal with things efficiently and with some finesse just to show how far above the common folk they were in power and style. That being the case it would take them a while to search the entire town and by the time they found the bust of Janus the time period specified would easily be expired.

_If only we could have found some way to make sure Buffy and her crew of weirdoes crossed the path of our costume-possessed selves._ Warren thought as a slightly unhinged smile appeared on his face, _It certainly would be interesting to see them get crushed beneath my boots. Ah well! Gives me something to look forward to after the spell is broken._

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Xander's Apartment, 6:00p.m 

_I don't know if this looks cool on me or if people are going to think I dressed in drag for Halloween._ Xander thought to himself as he looked at his fully costumed self in the bathroom mirror, _I mean the sword is wicked cool but these boots go a little high and the wig is definitely a little feminine._

Still he had to admit that when he compared his reflection to the picture that had come with the costume he looked like a perfect match for the character. Every item of clothing was in its proper place as prescribed by the picture and every prop was present and accounted for near as he could tell. It had been a little difficult in some parts figuring out what went where and why but eventually he got everything right. The most difficult part was getting the sword to stay on its hook while at the same time making sure he could take it out and wield it if necessary. The character he was dressed as didn't have a sheathe for his sword like you'd expect, it just hung at his side in the game, so the costume designer must have decided to compromise with the hook. It fit nicely through the slits in the hilt guard but wasn't a pain to unhook.

_Well too late to make a fuss. I have to get to the Espresso Pump in time to meet Dawn and work up a feasible story to feed Buffy so she doesn't break every bone in my body._ Xander thought after checking to make sure that the sea green contact lenses were on right, _Definitely one of those times that it pays to plan ahead._

With that in mind he left the bathroom and after picking up his keys as well as his wallet left his apartment bound for the Espresso Pump. Along the way he could see that a lot of other Sunnydale natives were on their way out for trick or treating of their own in a variety of costumes. Some outfits he spotted right away as coming from Zack's store by their look and the fact that they weren't generic vampire or witch outfits. Walking down one street he saw one high school guy wearing an excellent Dante costume from the "Devil May Cry" videogame. The guy gave him a thumbs up approval and with is trademark lopsided grin he returned the thumbs up before continuing on his way. Remembering how many people had been in the shop when he had picked up the costumes for the gang and figuring that there had been a steady flow of customers all week he had a feeling that Zack shop would soon be **THE** place for costumes. Wouldn't matter if it was Halloween or just a random costume party throughout the year because everyone would know that between Party Town and Zack's Costume store the latter one is the place to go to for quality goods.

Turning the corner he saw no one, much less Dawn in costume, waiting for him at the Espresso Pump which made him wonder if she had gotten caught by Mrs. Summers leaving the house. A possibility considering that while Buffy had managed to sneak out of the house numerous nights for her patrolling of the graveyards and other slayage related duties Dawn was nowhere near as stealthy. If Joyce had indeed caught her youngest trying to sneak out while in costume then he could probably expect a serious lecture followed by 'mother glare #7' before being sent on his way. That of course would be followed by at least a week of probationary observation before things might return to normal between him and the Summers family. Another possibility was simply that he was early and that Dawnie would be along in a few minutes perfectly safe and sound. After all Giles had said that there was no Hellmouthy badness scheduled for tonight, right? Then again that was what the G-Man had said the morning prior to Ethan's little chaos spell and he remembered well what that night was like.

_Stop being so pessimistic Xan-man!_ He thought to himself as he tried to think more positively, _It is just like the old saying: if you think you're going to fail then you will. Just keep believing that this will be an honest to god quiet night and it will be._

"Looking good Xan!" said Dawn's voice from behind him and sounding more than a little playful.

Turning around he prepared to deliver a bit of witty quipage of his own but the instant his eyes settled on Dawn Summers his mind went to instant blue screen of death. Standing before him was most certainly not the kid sister of Buffy or the young teen he had hung out with when she was alone at home. Starting from the top, as that would be safer for him, was the wig of long dark brown hair that reached down past her… well… past her waist. It was perfectly put on and even had the trademark dolphin tail curl at the bottom like in the game. The contact lenses she had on were just the right shade of brown to match what her character had in the game but he had a feeling it had taken her a few painful tries to get them in right. Next came… well… the shirt although it looked like it could easily be called a halter top given that it was sleeveless and stopped about an inch and a half below her chest. That last bit he figured had to do with the fact that she somehow had managed to grow two bra sizes since he had seen her this morning. It could simply be that she had wanted to more closely match the picture of her character but a growing chill in his spine told him otherwise. Going on down he came the to the skirt part of the costume and was slightly worried to find that it was a good inch shorter than he remembered asking Zack to make it. The character Dawn was dressed up as wore a mini-skirt that ended just below her butt and that made sense when you took into account that her specialty was hand-to-hand combat. However when he had first spotted the costume he knew that none of the girls would consent to wear it unless changes were made to the length of the skirt. After all if the one that wore it bent over everyone within eyesight would know exactly what type of underwear the wearer wore. So of course he immediately asked Zack if he could make it longer somehow which led to a strip of black cloth of a shade that matched the costume's skirt being sown into the bottom. One could see that the added cloth did not belong to the costume if you looked closely but to the common stranger walking by it would be undetectable. Right now though he could tell that the strip had been removed and the skirt restored to its original length.

_Buffy is going to **kill** me!_ He thought as he could easily imagine what the blonde Slayer's reaction would be in half an hour when she saw her little sister, _and that's **if** I can convince her that Dawn changed the costume without my knowledge or consent! _

Deciding he might as well continue the visual assessment so he could at least know the cause of his impending dismemberment. The dark red boots she wore had thankfully remained unchanged looking just as durable and combat ready as they had when he had laid out the costume for Dawn earlier this morning. Last but certainly not least came the metal gauntlets and elbow pad to complete the outfit. He could tell that they weren't plastic or even cheap metal made to look good but actual battle ready stuff that would take a sledge hammer to put a dent in. Kinda surprising considering that the costumes were usually just meant to look good rather then work like the real deal. Sort of implied that maybe Zack knew a little more about what went on in Sunnydale then most of the local inhabitants.

_I think I'll spin by Zack's later tonight and see just how much he **does** know about the nightlife hereabouts._ Xander thought as he brought his eyes back up to Dawn's safe as it was the only safe place **to** look, _If nothing else it'll give us a source of swords and stuff in case we need them._

"Ditto Dawn-patrol." He replied as casually as possible given what the youngest Summers was wearing, "So how many boxes of Kleenex do you got stuffed under that shirt?"

"One and a half." She replied promptly as thought it was perfectly ordinary for a woman to pad her bra to make her chest look bigger.

_Not that I know one way or another if women do that of course. _He thought to himself suspect honesty. _After all that would imply that I've gotten farther than second base with any of my previous dates and given that most of them were only interested in killing and/or eating me I can safely say I barely made it to first nine times out of ten._

"Reasonable. Now how about we come up with a way to keep your sister from blowing her top when she sees you because I was hoping to make this a pain free night." He said in a perfect imitation of her 'it is perfectly normal' tone of voice, "Personally I'm leaning towards the 'unfortunate accident with some spaghetti sauce' mixed with 'forgetting washing instructions' before ending with 'did not look in a mirror before leaving the house'. Do you think she'd buy it?"

"Not one bit Xander." Came the ice cold voice of a blonde Slayer who should not have been there for another thirty minutes, "Now would you care to tell me why my little sister is here and why she looks like she belongs either on a street corner or on American Gladiators?"

_Times like this I almost wish someone would cast that stupid costume-becomes-real spell_ Xander thought as he turned to see the entire gang behind him dressed in their costumes, _because I could really use Sephiroth's ability to vanish into thin air at the moment._

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Dawn Summers' P.O.V, Same Time 

_Oh great! **She's** here!_ Dawn thought to herself as she took in Buffy looking at her as though she was running around in her underwear, _And I was hoping for a few more minutes of watching Xander trying to keep his eyes above my shoulders._

After all it had been her objective from the moment she had first started to think about guys in a romantic kind of way to have Xander look at her as something other than 'the little sister of Buffy'. She had made some progress in that he didn't treat her like a kid but rather as one of the gang but that had been last year and she felt it was time to take things to the next level. That was one of the main reasons she had chosen the Tifa Lockhart costume rather than the Yuffie one when Xander had come around in the morning. While both costumes would've looked good on her the Tifa one she knew would leave her love interest totally non-verbal when he saw her in it. She had easily found the added fabric at the bottom of the skirt and had carefully snipped it off since she didn't want anything to interfere with her plans tonight. Of course she had a pretty good idea why it had been added and while she wanted to blow Xander's mind she did have some decency in her. Instead of her usual underwear she had grabbed an old pair of her sister's spandex biking shorts and once on her she simply rolled up the legs so that they wouldn't stick out from underneath the skirt. True it was somewhat uncomfortable but a little discomfort was a small price to pay for the look in the Xan-man's eyes that she could tell he was ruthlessly trying to suppress.

_Looks like phase one of 'Operation: Halloween Seduction' is a success._ She thought to herself as she heard Xander trying to keep her bottle blonde sister from pummeling him, _Now if I can keep my sister from dragging me home and chaining me to my bed I can move onto phase two which will **definitely** be interesting._

"How could you let her wear **that**? In fact what is she even **doing** here?" Buffy asked in a voice that made it clear she was not happy.

"First of all I made sure to tell the guy at the store to make it more decent looking but apparently Dawn didn't like the alterations." Xander said quickly trying to sound like he wasn't frightened of the glaring Slayer, "As for her being here… well… after I won the bet I went by your place to get your measurements from your mom so your costume would fit. I had to explain everything before I she would give me said measurements and when she found out we were all going around in a group she said that Dawn would be tagging along. Apparently there's a big thing going on down at the art gallery tonight so she needed someone to keep an eye on Dawn-patrol here."

Dawn nodded to confirm the story even though she didn't like the fact that he brought up her Mom's opinion that she needed a babysitter. She was **fifteen** years old for God's sake! She was of the dating age and at least she was after someone with a frickin' **pulse** unlike her oh so superior sister who had been in love with a walking corpse at her age. As for her costume it was not much more revealing than the outfits Buffy wore so her big sister had no leg to stand on in that area. It all came down to one thing: she was the youngest in the family and as a result was automatically seen as someone who needed to be handheld as well told what to do because she couldn't **possibly** know what was best for herself. Her mother she could forgive because it was typical maternal behavior and thus was both accepted as well as unavoidable. With Buffy however she had hoped and expected at least a little understanding seeing as how big sis was fifteen not too many years ago. But **NO** she has to try to be mini-Mom and get on my case the second our real mom lets up!

_Well not tonight!_ She thought to herself as she kept the determined look on her face, _Tonight I am going with them and sticking close to Xander and there is nothing she can do to stop me!_

Buffy looked like she was about to say 'it seems I will have to bow out of tonight's fun guys' but was stopped by her cornbread boyfriend Riley.

"It's no big deal Buffy. We'll just to make sure that at least one of us sticks close to her at all times." Riley said trying to make it sound as though Dawn's presence would in no way interfere with their having a good time, "As long as she doesn't go off on her own and is careful around the drink table she should be fine."

While she didn't like the way Riley phrased things she was grateful that he was on her side of things. If at least one more person from the Scooby gang supported her coming along then the odds were good that Buffy would reluctantly cave and not drag her back home.

"It'll be cool. I know most of the guys doing the music for the parties." Oz said with his usual stoic expression, "I'll check with them to make sure no one spiked the punch or anything. No problem."

_Yes! Let's see her try and drag me home now!_ Dawn thought to herself while reigning in the majority of her glee so only a little of it showed up on her face.

Looking at the face of Buffy Summers it didn't take a master of observation to see that the Summers stubborn streak was fighting against the rational reasons and support that had been given. Like every woman in the Summers family she was genetically inclined not to give up until she got her own way. Unless of course one happened to be outnumbered in which case either compromise or defeat were the usual outcomes. Eventually though the eldest Summers child let out a sigh of defeat but still remained stubborn enough to give her a stern glare.

"No accepting drinks from strangers, no **going** anywhere with strangers and if I see you trying to **pick up** a guy or pretend to be in university you are **so** grounded." Buffy stated firmly leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that she meant every word, "Agreed?"

"Agreed." Dawn replied with a slight frown in order to cover up the victorious glimmer in her eyes.

After all even she knew better than to trust strangers and had seen plenty of movies with scenes about what can go wrong at a party. She'd make sure to only drink or eat what the others did and even then keep it to a minimum. Besides she'd be sticking as close to Xander as she could the entire night in order to catch him in her web of feminine wiles.

_What's the worst that could happen? _She asked herself mentally.

Of course if the rest of the Scooby gang had heard that not only would they have agreed that they had just be assured something Hellmouthy tonight but that it would seriously not be of the good.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Warren's Basement, Five Minutes to 7:00p.m.**_

"Is everything ready?" Warren asked as he finished putting on the knee-high blue boots that went with his costume.

"Yep! All the drawings have been drawn and all the ingredients have been mixed and put where they're supposed to be." Jonathan replied as he straightened the helmet on his head for what had to have been the twentieth time.

"Then let's get this spell started for the hour is upon us." Andrew said wearing what he claimed was a costume that George Lucas would be using in a future movie.

"Knock off the 'wise old sorcerer' routine and get into position!" Warren snapped as he stepped into the arcane circle that was meant for him.

It was time for him to finally get the tools he'd need to achieve his destiny and he'd be damned if he'd let one or both of these two assholes screw it up. Making a fist with his almost elbow length gloves he could almost taste the power he was about to receive just as he thought he could hear the sounds of conquest in the air. Soon he wouldn't be some loser living out of his mother's basement earning minimum wage and hanging out with guys that barely ranked as losers. By the time the week was out he'd have crushed all resistance in this town and once he had some time to create and outfit an army with the technology his character knew about he would conquer this world. From there anything would be possible including perhaps galactic conquest. Maybe he'd even take up his character's ultimate quest and see if he could find the elusive equation himself.

_It'll be something to help me pass the time between conquests._ He thought with a sinister inner smile as the other two members of the triad stepped into their own arcane circles_, Right now though it's time to focus on the spell and nothing else._

"Alright, remember the sequence of the ingredients and make sure we chant in unison." Jonathan said before closing his eyes to center himself, "Even with our research this spell is a jury-rigged half planned modification of another spell intended to call on the power of a very real god. The potential backfire this could have if we screw up will **not** be pleasant."

Looking each other in the eye, as if to make sure they were all committed to seeing this through, they nodded once before commencing with the spell casting.

"Janus, evoco vestram animam. Exaudi meam causam. Carpe noctem pro consilio vestro. Veni, appare et nobis monstra quod est infinita potestas." They chanted in unison as they each took one ingredient and began to draw symbols onto the bust of Janus.

Carefully and with the utmost precision they did their work, using brushes designed for incredibly fine painting, until the last of drops of solution were emptied from the bottle's in each of their hands. Putting the empty bottles back down they each picked up a bowl containing a finely ground powder that appeared to have come from two separate sources.

"Persona se corpum et sanguium commutandum est. Vestra sancta praesentia concrescet viscera. Janus! Sume noctem!" the three of them did chant as they sprinkled the contents of their bowls first on themselves and then on the bust itself.

With these final words and ingredients administered the darkness was hurled away by an explosion of light as every symbol, whether it be on the bust or on the floor, lit up with a pure white light unlike anything mankind could ever produce. With a pulse of energy a ripple of energy flew outwards from the bust of Janus like the shockwave of a multi-megaton nuclear explosion. However no damage was done to the basement, the house or the surrounding area at all. Nevertheless that did not mean that all who lived would be spared death and destruction this night because while the spell itself did no harm the three beings who now stood in the basement would likely do that themselves. Where Andrew wells once stood there was now a warrior who had lost all sense of good and evil with only two most important people in his life to give him any stability at all. Where Jonathan once stood a man who had firsthand witnessed how evil and twisted the human race was capable of behaving and this caused him to swear to himself never again would he allow that holocaust to happen again. In place of Warren Mears though was a being that was as far above the other as they were above germs and the power contained within his blood red eyes was such that all save the gods would fear it.

So great was the potential evil in these three beings that the delicate balance between the light and the darkness actually shifted a bit in favour of those damned for all eternity. However as the balance is a state of existence grudgingly agreed upon by both sides the imbalance towards evil now requires that added good be created to balance things out. The form this equalizing source of good would take would be random though and only those with absolute rule over both evil and good had any idea whatsoever. Even they however could be surprised and tonight they would be as surprised as either of them had ever been since their conflict began.

Tonight everything changed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**On the Other Side of Town, Approaching Sunnydale U Campus**_

One Minute Prior to the Spell Taking Effect 

"Alright Xander. How about you give us some names and some info on these costumes?" Willow asked as they all proceeded to the frat house where Oz had helped to set up the sound system.

"Okay. You Willow are Yuffie Kisaragi princess of the Japanese-like country of Wutai and a materia hunter." Xander replied trying to sound like Giles explaining the latest demon or prophecy, "Your country was defeated by the evil army of the Shinra Electric company and lost the source of its fame which was materia. Being young an ambitious Yuffie decides that she is going to scour the world looking for all the materia in order to restore your homeland to its former glory. Yuffie has attitude and a smart mouth that sometimes gets her in trouble but she's a pretty good person at heart."

This was met with a smile from the brown wig wearing wicca as it sounded like her character was overall pretty good except for the klepto problem Xander mentioned earlier in the day.

"Buffy you are Aerith Gainsborough a girl who has lived most of her life in the lower levels of the techno-city of Midgar." Xander explained switching to something sounding a little more like Dumbledore, "What isn't revealed until later is that she is the sole surviving member of a race called the Cetra who were a nomadic people and very in touch with the spirits of all living things. It's because of her that the rest get involved in a quest to save the planet. Remind you of anyone?"

Buffy gave him a short glare at that last comment but nevertheless could see the similarities between herself and Aeris. Both of them were rare and had the responsibility of saving an entire planet. Of course they were also similar in that they had both died trying to protect everyone but thankfully he had been able to send death packing unlike Cloud with Aeris.

"Oz you are a member of Shinra's investigation division called Reno. While he might seem laid back and lazy he's actually pretty good at his job and takes pride in what he does. He's also never seen without his partner Rude who is pretty much the tall silent type who leaves the talking to Reno." Xander explained once again shifting his impersonation type to Lieutenant Commander Data, "He's a qualified helicopter pilot and his favourite weapon is that shock baton that came with the costume. I know it sounds like Rude would be more your type but I figured it be nice to have you go as someone who was your exact opposite rather than your personality twin."

Oz of course seemed to develop a slight frown at being cast as one of the bad guys but then nodded in acceptance of Xander's reasons before saying his trademark 'cool' response.

"Riley you are the main hero of the story Cloude Strife who is an ex-member of Shinra's elite commando group called SOLDIER. When the game starts you have officially been hired on by a group of terrorists/rebels called AVALANCHE to help them shut down Shinra's draining of mako energy from the planet." Xander explained with his best General Hammond voice, "You act like a typical professional mercenary most of the time but you're a decent enough guy who won't refrain from saving someone in need even if they can't pay you."

Of course Xander refrained from telling the teacher's assistant that Cloud was a major head case with a problem in telling reality from fantasy for the majority of the game. He thought it was a pretty funny pairing, putting the T.A of a psych class and a guy who needed serious therapy together, but kept his laughter to himself.

"And who am I supposed to be Xander?" Dawn asked grabbing his left arm in an attempt to get his attention but oddly enough wasn't letting go once she had it.

"You Dawn are Tifa Lockhart hand-to-hand combat expert and second in command of the terrorist/rebel group known as AVALANCHE." Xander replied in his normal voice as he had run out of people he was good at imitating, "You're the lead female protagonist in the game and a childhood friend of Cloud Strife. She's bright and optimistic and always tries to keep the group thinking positive thoughts no matter the situation. She also has a deep hatred of Shinra after an incident involving one of their celebrity generals resulted in the destruction of her hometown as well as her father."

Dawn smiled when he told her that Tifa was the lead female character and he knew it was likely because it allowed her to get one up on her older sister. The youngest Summers then looked at her sister and gave her some kind of look that caused the blonde Slayer to look like she was ten seconds from changing her mind about letting her little sister join them.

"Who're you supposed to be Xander?" Willow asked as she tried to figure it out for herself by looking at his costume.

"Well Willow you can just call me—" was as far as Xander got before something slammed into him with all the force of a tsunami causing his world to go black faster than a turned off television.

Had he been able to remain aware longer he would have seen that everyone else in the group had felt the blow too and were dropping like puppets who just had all their strings cut at the same time. However that was not the end of it but the first in a chain that would spread further and effect more permanent changes than the ones who cast the spell could have ever foreseen. For there was one crucial element present for this spell that was absent when the chaos mage Ethan Rayne cast his spell two Halloween's ago. Two years ago one Dawn Summers had gotten sick the day before Halloween and thus was forced to remain at home rather than go trick or treating in the costume her sister had gotten for her. As such she was unaffected by the spell which turned Buffy into a witless noblewoman, Xander into a soldier and Willow into the ghost of a good time. This time however, thanks to her mother's job and the clumsiness of one Andrew Wells, she is wearing a costume that is a part of the spell cast this night. It is however her unique heritage, her hidden past, that will truly be responsible for the changes about to occur throughout this dimension and mayhap beyond. For she is the Key made flesh, a source of arcane power that has existed almost since the beginning of creation, capable of great good or terrible evil depending on the circumstances. In this instance through the efforts of Andrew, Jonathan and Warren to make the changes wrought by the spell permanent in flesh, in mind and in soul have caused the chaos magic to touch the energy of the Key within Dawn Summers with unheard of consequences.

In a flash of emerald light so bright it could easily have been seen from orbit an arcane shockwave rippled outwards from the epicentre that was Dawn Summers. Like a rolling wave it flowed over the Earth changing, transforming, shifting things which did exist into that which now did and would be so forever more. Once the changes to the Earth were made one would have expected the wave of energy to terminate but instead it merely reshaped itself before expanding outwards into the galaxy itself.

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Los Angeles 

The city of Angels they once called it.

One of the biggest cities in America and like all big cities it had a dark underbelly the local government and local tourist bureau would rather you not know about. What most people don't realize is that there had been even darker underbelly to the city, a demonic community, that only a few people know about much less do anything about. Some chose to make a stand against the demons that would prey on innocent civilians and families while others saw more profit in making back alley deals with them. In any case it wasn't the safest city in the world and has more often than not been called a war zone in the more deteriorated sections.

That was how it had been before the wave of emerald energy washed over it changing everything in ways no one could have foresaw.

In place of the normal city it had once been was a place that looked more like a city from ancient times. Surrounded by a thick and sturdy steel wall twenty stories high with only small garage door openings at the base to allow people in or out was the Los Angeles people now knew and would think had always been there. Inside this protective wall there were two levels that comprised the city and these levels were broken up into eight sections all array around a central point. Sadly there was also a specific arrangement for who lived where with the upper elite living on the plate that gave access to the sun while the less fortunate were forced to live down below in the dark. This arrangement was not the design of the United States government but rather a single multi-national corporation that was an empire unto itself.

It was the Shin-ra Electric Power Company.

A relative unknown until about fifteen years prior when they discovered a new source of energy that they claimed to be the cleanest ever discovered by mankind. Within a year they became the single most powerful company in the world with contracts from every major power on the planet. With this kind of power and influence at its disposal Shin-ra decided to found a city of its own in California, USA to serve as a symbol of its power and technological greatness. Thus was founded the city of Midgard, a city constructed on the former site of Los Angeles, regarded by the majority of the world as a model for them to follow and a sign that Shin-ra was on the cutting edge on all fronts. While those who lived in the city would disagree with that statement, as would any outsiders who came to visit, Shin-ra made sure that only the positive responses reached the world at large.

It is the center of their power base, the place where all their ambitions are born, and the place where they may one day meet their end.

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The Earth 

All over the world transformations like the one that altered Los Angeles into the technological city Midgar occurred. In some cases these alterations changed established cities like Manhattan only in one area where Shin-ra's private harbor and security base Junon appeared. In others areas that had once been free of the mark of mankind were now popular tourist attractions like the island of Costa del Sol spread out over the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Again and again places were changed to suit the new world that was being integrated into the one that came before with no perceivable pattern to what degree the changes would be. The mining town of Corel, the native American village of Cosmo Canyon, Wutai and countless other places sprung up out of nowhere and as far as the world at large was concerned they had always been there.

A new world community had been formed.

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On a level only theorized or glimpsed at by mortal beings changes were being made there as well that the entities in charge of those realms were at a loss as to how to stop or even contain. One such change was that the natural field of magic that had once enveloped the Earth and could be tapped into if one knew how was reduced to half its former strength. At the same time the rivers of molten rock and metal that once made up a large portion of the inner Earth was changed completely transmuting into a mass of spiritual energy that fluctuated between being liquid and being energy depending on its proximity to the surface of the Earth. It was with the combination of the natural magic that had been taken from the surface and this planetary plasma that materia appeared in the world. Green, red, yellow and blue materia now existed of which some was easily obtainable while others were only available to the military and societies elite.

It also on a spiritual/metaphysical level altered the manner in which spirits both entered and left the world whether those spirits belonged to people, animals or plants. Where before the spirits of these various living things would ascend into heaven or phase into another dimension entirely the changes enveloping the planet changed that. Now when an entity in possession of a spirit of any kind died that spirit was absorbed into the mass of energy that now occupied the space once occupied by molten rock and metal. As well whenever new life was about to be created an amount of spiritual energy proportional to the size of the life form about to come into being was released from the soul energy mass within the planet. Needless to say it was drastically different from how things had been done before and those beings that governed over the higher realms as well as those who ruled over the lower ones were most upset by this turn of events. Countless years of planning and numerous agendas were now rendered completely worthless. Add to that fact both sides were still scrambling to obtain a full grasp of the situation along with problems both imminent and long term and the thought of one pimp clothes wearing balance demon summed it up admirably.

_What **a** MESS!_ Whistler thought to himself as he looked up at the PTBs situation board which at the moment looked like it would overload at any moment from the sheer number of problems popping up all over the place.

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	6. Son of War

"_Son of War"_

_BtVS/Xena/H:tLJ_

_(Season 3 of BtVS during the episode with Mrs. Post. Around Dahak's First Appearance in Xena-Herc universe)_

**_Temple of Ares, Greece, 12 Years before Xena's Arrival in Potidaea_**

It was a building dedicated to the glorification of that which has brought about death, destruction and chaos to every corner of the planet Earth in the past present and most certainly in the future. It is a temple where those who worship it and make it their life's work gather in the hopes that the God who so personifies it will bless them and aide them in their efforts. On this night though the temple was completely vacant having been cleared out by the head priest and his staff at sunset. No one was told why this was done and anyone who attempted to oppose the priests had their efforts cut short with several very sharp swords. With darkness both within the temple and without as well as storm clouds gathering above the temple all that had experience in such matters would have probably had a bad feeling about the shrine. Fortunately for the one behind the emptying of the stone building none of the ones who might try and interfere with his plans were close enough to mess things up. His siblings were also otherwise engaged with some 'distractions' he had covertly arranged to take place around this time. Oh they would definitely feel what he was doing once the process began and would likely interrogate him after but by then it would be too late. He would have what he wanted and finally be able to start the plan that would spell the end of his pathetic half-brother as well as any who opposed him. After all while he was bound by certain obligations, rules and responsibilities what he would create here tonight would be a wild card that would be free to do anything so long as no connection to him was made. He could already envision how the future would unfold as a result of tonight and it brought sinister smile to his face.

Sensing a presence beginning to take form behind him he turned away from the window where he had been watching the storm clouds from to find his most obedient but also most expendable ally. It angered him every time he laid eyes on the snivelling little toady and only made him angrier that they were related but nevertheless the pale faced twerp had his uses and the errand the boy had been sent on was one of those uses. In the back of his mind he had been concerned that the unkempt fool would return empty handed or even worse have done something that would make any further attempts impossible. However when the lanky figure finished materializing it took him less than a minute to spot the glass bottle in his hands filled halfway with a dark red liquid. He almost chuckled with glee at the sight but reigned in those emotions before putting on the face he usually wore around his nephew.

"Do you have it?" he asked making it sound as though he was sceptical of the young one's ability to accomplish the task he had been given.

"Right here Unc! Got a whole half bottle for ya!" replied the young man who practically screamed 'spineless lackey' in the way he spoke and in the way he moved, "No sweat!"

"Did she discover who you really are?" asked the taller man as he took the bottle and held it up to one of the few lit lamps in the room.

"No sirrreee Uncle! As far as she was concerned I was just an ale induced dream!" the young lackey replied with pride, "Won't even have a scar when she wakes up in the morning!"

_Good foresight._ He thought to himself impressed with his nephew being able to think of such a problem much less solve it.

"Good. I trust you'll keep quiet about all this if anyone starts asking questions?" he asked the shorter young man as he turned to face him.

"Sure thing Uncle! They won't get word one outta me! Nope! Not one single word!" his nephew replied obviously quite happy with his uncle's praise.

"Then leave me!" he ordered making it clear that he wouldn't repeat himself, "Your part in this is done."

Startled by the sudden change from praise to anger his nephew looked like he was about to question the command before what intelligence the idiot had told him it was probably better just to leave. With a flicker of light the spineless relative he had sent on mission for tonight's 'activity' was gone but he waited a few more moments before getting down to business. After all the less that moron saw the less information the others could drag out of him later. He knew the fool wouldn't be able to hold up against the rest of the family for more than a minute and that was if the worm actually worked up the courage to hold his ground. With next to nothing to offer the interrogators besides the details of his errand he could take whatever information his nephew gave them and mould it into something perfectly reasonable. After all without incontrovertible proof that he had done something to violate the laws of his father all they could do was glare at him with suspicion in their eyes. That was one of the main things that he had kept at the forefront of his mind from the moment the seed of the plan first popped into his mind. He might be more than strong enough to deal with the majority of the family but his mother and father were two beings than made even him back down first in a confrontation. With them it was a simple matter of differences in power and he just didn't have the juice to go toe-to-toe with them. By doing things as covertly as he had there would be next to nothing to connect him to the new demigod on the block aside from blood. Blood that could have come from any one of a number of sources giving him many excuses as well as plausible deniability.

With this in mind he walked over to the alter that was at the centre of the room where a sheet covered form lay still and unmoving. To all except two it would appear to be nothing more than a statue or an elaborate casket most likely intended for the most devout worshippers of Ares. If the regular visitors to the temple were given more time they might begin to develop other thoughts but as the still form's presence here was a one-night deal it would end up being forgotten or treated as gossip. Reaching out with his free hand he yanked the sheet away to reveal a clay statue that kings and queens of any region would give half their riches for because of the obvious quality work. That is of course if it wasn't still malleable of course. By all accounts it looked as though the artist that created it had just put down his tools for a moment after adding a little more details around the eyes or the mouth and would resume in a few moments. Sadly the artist who had agreed to this little project of his would not be able to see the glorious future that awaited his masterpiece. As soon as the man had informed him that he was finished he had been **permanently** silenced in a flash of light that reduced the artisan to ashes. A pity considering that he was believed to be a rising star among his peers with the potential to create great and wonderful works of art.

_Oh well! What's one less artist in the world?_ He thought to himself as he examined the form in front of him carefully.

At first glance one could tell that it was made to look like a young man in his late teens with a trim body and being roughly six feet tall in height. The various features and whatnot that one would expect in a son were present with the majority of those features coming from him with the rest coming from the young man's 'mother'. He had been thankful that the artist had just required him to show him what the mother looked like a few times because it would have been rather irritating to have to show up every night. All in all the clay form in front of him was the single most detailed piece of work in all of Greece and perhaps even the known world. Every square inch of the clay form had been cut, moulded, shaped and formed with the utmost precision possible with the tools of the trade. When he had seen the completed work for the very first time even he had been forced to admit how impressed he had been with the finished product. Now though it was time to get down to work and bring his project for the past year to fruition.

Placing the bottle containing the mother's blood carefully on the altar in front of him he summoned a dagger into his left hand. With no hesitation he cut a long gash in his palm and watched as his life's blood began to trickle out. He did not look for long as he knew his own nature would heal up the wound quickly so he would have to work fast. Banishing the dagger he dipped the tip of his left index finger into the blood pooling in his right palm and began to draw symbols with the crimson liquid on the clay form. With the careful precision he was sure the clay sculptor had used he drew symbol after symbol at the specific points necessary before finishing by placing his bloody right hand on the form's chest to leave a red handprint. With a shake of both hands the blood disappeared as though nothing at all had happened. With that first part done he picked up the bottle carrying the mother's blood and uncorked it with a pop before using the ruby coloured fluid within to trace the symbols he had made with his own blood. Conveniently though he would not have to physically draw the symbols again since his own blood automatically guided the female blood to where it needed to go. Five minutes of careful pouring later and all the symbols that had been drawn using his blood now had a layer of maternal blood on top of them. Looking at the bottle though he found that he had a little blood left and decided in an instant to empty what was left on the eyes of the clay form before him.

_Now for the tricky part. _He thought to himself as he prepared to endow this grey piece of carefully crafted clay with life.

While it was true that he had never done something like this before, and according to all the information sources he had access to he didn't have the power for, he had done everything he could to stack the odds in his favour. For one thing the temple he had chosen for tonight's event was located on a particularly potent convergence of magical lay lines. By tapping into them he was confident he could boost his own power to somewhere just shy of Zeus himself. If what his research had revealed was correct then all he would require was five minutes of uninterrupted concentration and he would have one fully functional demigod of a son.

Some might ask why he was going to such unusual and in some cases extreme lengths to gain a son when there were much simpler and much more **pleasurable** ways to go about it. After all it would be simplicity itself for him to just seduce the woman he had selected to be the mother, bed her and then wait for the child to be born. The reason why he didn't take that route was that he didn't want to have to wait for the boy to reach maturity. That and he didn't want to take the chance that something might happen to turn the boy into a goody-goody like his sickeningly sweet half brother. So while the risk of doing it this way was greater in terms of a success or failure thing it was preferable in his opinion to the risk of the person who was supposed to be his ally becoming another enemy.

With a deep breath of air he centred himself and removed all things outside of the temple from his mind. For the next five minutes there was nothing and no one in all of existence beside him, the clay form in front of him and the convergence of magical energy beneath his feet. Then like smoke rising from a fire the energy of the lay lines rose from the paths they usually travelled and entered him with all the subtlety of one of Zeus' lightning bolts. He was awash in a sea of energy that even for someone like him was quite the rush and almost let himself be distracted from his task. However the knowledge of the time limit he had to work with brought him back to reality and he focused himself on the task at hand as he empowered the symbols he had drawn and began the spell he had chosen for this task. Bit by bit he could feel each symbol reach the limits of the amount of energy they could contain and as each one reached optimum capacity they lit up with a bluish-white light for all to see. Once the last symbol lit up and the maternal blood that had been poured onto the eyes did the same he knew it was time for the final push. Going for one final surge of power from the cocktail of his godly power and the lay line energy he slammed it into the clay form in front of him with all of his strength. In a flash that could blind even a god the room quickly became filled with a light that could easily be seen for a mile in any direction through the windows of the temple. It took a few moments but eventually the light faded before vanishing entirely but when he looked down at the altar expecting to see his newly created son there came into being a whole new reason for a fancy light show.

The altar where the clay form had once rested was now bare of anything even remotely a human form and aside from a few ashes scattered about there was nothing to indicate that there had ever been a clay body there or that a spell had been cast. For a while only a look of puzzlement and thoughtfulness was on his face but that was all just a mask for the emotions rising to a boil just below the surface. Then like a volcano erupting he vented his emotions for all to see tossing bolts of energy in every direction demolishing walls and putting in more than a few skylights. This went on for a few minutes until the temple ceased to **be** a temple and looked more like ruins or a random assortment of boulders. Fortunately the venting and destruction had done their job of getting his anger and fury out of his system. Now though he had to come up with a plan Beta since plan Alpha had apparently failed spectacularly.

_Guess it takes more than power to create life._ He thought to himself as he looked about the remains of the temple as one would look at botched paint job.

"The traditional way it is then." Ares, God of War, said as though that had been his plan from the beginning.

With that he vanished from sight leaving quite a bit of work for the priests to do in terms of repairs in the morning assuming they didn't just leave to sign on with the temple of Ares in the next town. In other words it was just another standard night in Greece where the moods and actions of the Olympian's were as unpredictable as the weather.

None suspected that anything unusual had happened and that was just the way it should be as far as a group of higher beings was concerned. Anything else would just mean more paperwork for them and they had enough to deal with as it was at the moment.

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Realm of the Powers That Be, Same Time 

"That was close my brothers and sisters." Spoke the voice of a suave secret agent, "Ares almost managed to completely destroy our plans for the next century."

"Indeed. The emerging probabilities his 'son' was beginning to produce would have played havoc with our long term plans for the Olympians and several other mortals" said the voice of a queen of crime, "Fortunately the storm of energy the War God called upon for his scheme provided us with just the opening we needed to remove his 'offspring' from the game."

"The question now is what do we do with Ares' creation." Said the voice of a high school principal.

That indeed was a question that required those dubbed 'The Powers that Be' to take more than a moment to answer. After all while their first impulse might be to simply destroy the son of Ares they were not above considering how this new pawn might be used to their advantage. It had become a common enough tactic in their war against the denizens of hell to turn a potential problem into a potent solution. While some elements needed unique forms of 'persuasion' in the end they served their purposes well enough. Now how could this demigod, this son of Ares and a female warlord, best serve the cause and where to put him until it was time for him to accept his preordained destiny? Put him on the other side of the planet? No, word of this young man would eventually get back to Ares if they did that. Transfer him to another dimension where one of their counterparts could make use of him? No the others would likely not be impressed with the introduction of such an unknown into their plans any more then they were. Cast him into the future and deal with him later? No. That would merely be procrastination and probably would land them right back where they started when they caught up with him.

In the end they all agreed that there was simply too much chaos and uncertainty surrounding the young man that Ares had created and any plans they attempted to incorporate him into would inevitably end in ways no one could predict. So with little reservation they prepared to obliterate the son of Ares but were stopped by the sudden shock of a presence materializing in their midst that was stronger than any of them combined. When they saw who it was they all immediately knew that the fate of Ares' creation was now officially out of their hands.

"I'm afraid my colleagues that She has decided to deal with this matter personally." The man said in a voice reserved for a teacher who sneered at his students almost constantly, "Apparently something about this 'wild card' has piqued Her interest so I'll be taking the boy with me."

With a snap of his fingers the body of the son of Ares vanished from the room and all of the members that made up the august body called 'The Powers That Be' internally groaned at the potential confusion this could cause them in the future. It was rare that She took direct interest in the comings and goings of the planet Earth much less the beings that fell under their jurisdiction but when She did it always meant headaches for them later. Just as it looked as though her messenger was about to leave he seemed to stop and listen to a voice that could be heard only by him. It was when he turned back to look at them that they knew something had been added on to Her decision to take direct control over matters.

"Oh and She says that as of now he is officially immune as well as protected from you and your subordinates." The Sneering Teacher stated as though he wondered about the sanity of his immediate superior, "Any attempt, successful or otherwise, will be dealt with harshly. Picture 'unending Barney episodes' whatever those are supposed to be. She said you'd know what she was talking about because I sure don't."

As a whole The Powers That Be paled at the thought of the punishment they'd be forced to endure if they interfered with Her plans for the boy. With his message delivered the Sneering Teacher vanished and left the beings that made up the group entitled 'The Powers That Be' hoping that they were all retired by the time the Son of Ares popped up again.

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_**2000 Years Into the Future(give or take a few decades), **_

_**Sunnydale Memorial Hospital**_

_I don't know why She's going to all this trouble for the sake of one demigod but did she have to pick **me** to take care of it!_ The Greasy Haired Man thought as tried to look inconspicuous as he made his way to the maternity ward.

It had been tiresome to travel two millennia into the future but even worse was the fact that he had to go to some rather extreme lengths to keep his presence outside of his assigned time a secret from all but Her. Not because he thought it was okay if She knew but rather because he had no chance in eternity of ever being powerful enough to keep anything from Her sight. Still it meant he was forbidden from using any of the magic he was accustomed to and thus forced to rely on mortal magic to remain undetected. It was appalling to use such primitive and, at least for him, unnatural magic to do this job but if it would get him out of this building and away from the Hellmouth quicker he could tolerate it. Just being near a portal to that infernal place made him feel all dirty and defiled. It made him wonder what plans She could have for the bundle he was carrying that would require the boy to be raised **here** of all places.

_Oh well! 'Mine is not to reason why' and all that rubbish._ He thought as he slipped into the room where all the little newborn ankle biters were kept.

The orders had been simple. Go two thousand years into the future, travel to the currently active Hellmouth, locate and get to the main hospital and switch one of the newborns there with Her special project. He had also been told to pay special attention so that the features of the project and the baby to be replaced matched as closely as possible. This almost made him growl inn annoyance since it meant that he would have to inspect each of these would be troublemakers one by one. If they had been all male he would most certainly have growled but as it seemed that more girls than boys had been born in the last week he only had to inspect ten of the newborns. Looking at each one carefully he tried to look for one with black hair and brown eyes along with all the other necessary features. Fortunately he had the baby he needed to compare the ten with right with him so he didn't have to worry about remembering something wrong. After a few minutes, some of which he spent wondering if a nurse that had gone by the observation window had seen him, he finally narrowed down the ten possible candidates to two.

To his left was a crib with the name 'McNally, Jesse' and to his right was a crib that bore the name 'Harris, Alexander' and both as far as he was concerned met the criteria he was given. The physical characteristics were a match in both cases and so he was left having to use his own wisdom and logic to decide which one he would switch with baby in his arms. Unfortunately though as the seconds ticked by he couldn't really come up with any sort of 'reason' to favor either Harris or McNally. As far as he was concerned one was just as good as the other. In the end though he decided on the Harris baby because of the name the parents had chosen to give their child. Alexander, a Greek name that when translated into the dominant language of this nation meant 'protector of mankind'. He found the idea of switching this normal child with the son of Ares to be somewhat amusing considering how the little war god would likely react if he knew. So in the end it was his sense of humor that made the choice for him and after a skillful switch of all the necessary items of clothing and nametags his job was done.

_Now all I have to do is find some suitable family to drop the real Alexander on and I can finally go back home._ The Sneering Teacher thought to himself as he vanished from the room with his temporary charge, _Hmmm… According the divine rolodex the O'Neal family is primed to conceive a child in the next few days so why not this one. A little temporal regression and careful implantation should do the job nicely._

The La Metatron that came from two thousand years in the past would later curse his impulsiveness when he caught up with this point in time. Curse himself and really wish it was possible for the Voice of God to get completely drunk!

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Seventeen Years Later, Approaching the Crawford Mansion, Nighttime, Sunnydale 

The Zeppo was at war with himself and from the way that it was seesawing back and forth he knew that the battle likely wouldn't end without something giving one side or the other a helping hand. It had pretty much been like this ever since he had spotted Buffy and Deadboy getting all smootchy in the very same mansion he and Willow were now heading to at the moment. It had made him see red when he had put two and two together and realized that Buffy had known Overbite was back and had kept this news from them. Naturally this had brought back all the bad feelings and thoughts he had about the walking corpse and finding out that she still loved him after all he had done only made things worse. As far as he was concerned the only good vampire was a dusted vampire, soul or no soul, and anyone who didn't understand that was either a moron or deluded. Naturally the blonde Slayer fell into the latter category. She was so **happy** that her undead love bunny was back that she wanted all of them to welcome the bloodsucker back with open arms. When the gang had confronted Buffy the library and she tried to mount a defense for her actions and against any attempt to dust Angel he couldn't believe just how far she had been willing to go just to keep her lover. Naturally he had stormed off in a fury and gone to the one place he might be able to cool down and vent privately a little. After sending the cue ball into the side pocket for the tenth time though he had begun to believe that all he was doing was getting even more worked up.

_Then Faith strolled in._ he thought as both he and Willow approached the front door to the mansion, _Got me all fired up and not in the way you'd expect considering she's a complete hottie._

He had gotten into a good 'stake-the-leather-wearing-vampire' groove all the way back to the library where he and the brunette Slayer could stock up on weapons to dust Deadboy when a higher power decided to do something to give him some perspective. They had found Giles semi-conscious on the floor in his office with one helluva nasty bang mark on his forehead that was bleeding quite a bit. Going with his instincts he had tried to not only keep the Watcher conscious but also find out what had happened. Faith had immediately jumped to the conclusion that it had been Angel but looking at the wounds on G-Man he didn't agree. If Overbite had wanted Giles dead he'd be dead. If Deadboy had wanted the Watcher badly hurt the vamp would have done more than just a nasty knock on the head. Slayer Two though wouldn't hear any of it and was out the door and on the way to the mansion before he could stop her. Part of him had wanted to chase after her and try and get her to think things through but that portion of his mind was outnumbered by the parts that wanted Angel dusted as well as wanting to stay with Giles until the ambulance arrived.

By the time that Willow and Buffy arrived he was a big bundle of pent up emotions both good and bad. When the blonde Slayer had asked what had happened his emotions found her an acceptable target so he tore into her verbally without taking the time to think first. By the time his brain had caught up with his mouth he was left with one rapidly departing Slayer and one cross redhead neither of which were of the good. For the next few minutes he did nothing but what Willow told him to do in order to follow G-Man's last orders before he was carted off to the hospital. Once they had the ingredients for the 'Living Flame' both of them had been a little uncertain about whether they had done it right but after seeing what the magic glove thingy could do both of them had decided they didn't have time to test it out first.

Charging through the doors the sight that he spotted with his little eyes was not something that he would consider of the good. Faith's new watcher was sitting in a daze on the floor and the sounds of two Slayers laying the smacketh down could easily be heard. Both he and Willow didn't hesitate to go to the new Watcher's side to see if she was alright and from what he could see she might have a headache later but otherwise would be fine.

"The glove! It's in the trunk." Mrs. Post said urgently as she pointed to said trunk urgently.

"We'll get it." Xander said reassuringly just to make sure that the woman didn't overexert herself too soon.

Mrs. Post smiled at his words before she looked sharply in the direction that the sounds of fighting were coming from and said "Help Faith."

Nodding he stood up and left Willow to see to Watcher Woman's safety while he tried to put a stop to the fight between two Slayer's. He didn't know quite how he was going to pull that off but he knew that he had to get them to stop before one or both of them wound up in the hospital. True their Slayer healing would have them bouncing back in record time but time spent in a bed would mean time taken away from keeping Sunnydale safe from demons and vampires. Dashing through the broken doors to the atrium and quickly did his best to put himself in between Buffy and Faith hoping that their 'no hurt humans' rule would keep him 'owtch' free.

"Stop! Guys, listen!" he said trying to get the two warrior women to slip out of 'kick ass' mode and back into normal people mode.

Unfortunately Faith seemed to have some issues to work out with Buffy and didn't appreciate someone getting in her way. Therefore she grabbed him by the shirt and like a bale of hay being thrown from a hayloft she threw him back into the mansion so she could resume her fight with Buffy. While the landing was none too pleasant he was fortunate enough to land on something soft that cushioned his landing. When he pushed himself up though his cushion groaned and turned out to be Deadboy who had slowly been coming too until he had landed on him. This caused a mix of happy and annoyance in him as on the one hand he had caused Overbite more pain but on the other had Lord Forehead to thank for a soft landing. Rolling of the walking corpse he tried to get his bearings before heading back out to try and stop the Slayer twosome from kicking their butts into a hospital. However when the sounds of grinding metal clicking into place reached his ears he instinctively knew that a bigger problem had just shown up.

"Taou huogan maqachte milegaing!" yelled the voice of one Mrs Post and when the Zeppo turned around he was decidedly not happy to see the glove thingy that Willow and he had come to destroy on the new Watcher's arm.

His feelings were only reinforced by the sudden thunder and lightning show that decided to pop up out of nowhere. Given that it had been pretty clear out when he had left the school he figured it was a safe bet that the storm brewing wasn't natural.

"What's going on?" he heard Faith ask from behind him and judging from the absent sounds of fighting he guessed that both Slayers had taken notice in change in the weather.

"Faith! A word of advice: you're an idiot." Mrs. Post said with a smile that most baddies had on their faces when they decide to gloat over having made a hero look stupid.

Raising her gloved hand towards the skylight it didn't take a genius in Xander's mind that they were about to see exactly what the thing-a-mabob was capable.

"Tauo freim!" Post bellowed and in an impressive manner lightning fell from the sky, through the skylight and into the glove.

Repeating the two words she had bellowed earlier the rogue Watcher thrust her gloved hand forward and released the lightning bolt that had gone into the glove earlier firing it at the two Slayers. Fortunately though both Chosen Ones were quick enough and had seen the blast coming early enough to dive out of the way. Deciding that it was time for all non-super-powered members of the Scooby gang to high tail it he looked around for Willow and saw her getting up from the floor a little groggily. He wasn't quite certain why she was groggy but he figured that the Watcher bitch had something to do with it. While he did, for a moment, want to go over and give the Brit Bitch a piece of his mind he knew that he had to get his bestest bud out of harms way first. Running over to her he grabbed her by the arm and began to pull her in the direction of the front door but unfortunately it was then that Gwen Post decided to look in their direction. Later on he would think that it had probably been his running that had attracted her attention in the first place but for a moment the only thing in his mind was 'OH SHIT'.

"Tauo freim!" Post cried out as she let loose another bolt of lightning in the direction of the redheaded wicca and Zeppo.

It was here that time slowed down for one Alexander LaVelle Harris as he tried to find the best possible way to save both him and his oldest living friend. On the one hand neither he nor young Miss Rosenberg were anywhere near as fast as a Slayer which meant diving out of the way of the bolt of energy was highly unlikely. That meant either dropping to the ground or pushing Willow out of the way of the blast in the hopes that at least she would come out of this in one piece. Unfortunately he wasn't feeling much confidence that he could shove her quickly enough to escape receiving a lethal dose of electricity. That left only one choice and with less than a second to make it he knew he couldn't afford to hesitate in the slightest.

_Goodbye Willow._ He thought with every fiber of his being in the hopes that it would reach his friend's mind somehow.

With no fear and the determination to protect the most important person in his life he stepped in front of his best friend in order to take the brunt of the lightning bolt himself. It was an insane plan, one that had very little chance of succeeding given the likelihood that the electrical blast would simply punch its way right through him. After all unbeknownst to him the first blast that had been sent at the Slayers had left a bowling ball sized hole in the concrete wall outside. If the blast could do that to stone then human flesh wouldn't be all that difficult to put a hole in. However when the blast did make contact with him three things happened that no one present could have anticipated and only two beings in all existence could have anticipated. The first was that the seal that had been placed on the part of him that came from the god of war Ares shattered into dust releasing the powers of his birthright from their confinement. Not that it would have taken much to break the seal in the first place. With almost two decades of exposure to the demonic energies of the Hellmouth the seal had already been worn away quite a bit. In any case though it meant that in the space between instants Xander went from normal human to full-fledged demigod and this offered him significant protection against Post's attack. The second thing to happen was that the temporal anchor, the power that allowed a being created over two thousand years in the past to remain in the future, was overloaded creating a localized distortion in the space-time-continium. Despite how most sci-fi shows make it seem time travel is not as simple as walking through a portal or something and 'bam' there you are. That is because every crumb, every atom, throughout all eternity has its own unique temporal frequency or tone that indicates where it belongs in relation to everything else. In this case Xander's tone says he belongs over two thousand years in the past and the only thing that has been keeping him in the late twentieth century was a temporal anchor placed on him by La Metatron. However you'd be surprised what being hit full on with a mystical lightning bolt will do to one such anchor. Third and lastly, in the blink of an eye, Xander winked out of existence right in front of his best friend's eyes as well as everyone else in the room. It was not the sort of wink out one might expect from a living being getting struck by one point twenty-one gigwats of electricity. In those cases you'd expect the person struck to do a fairly good impression of a smoked cigarette on fast-forward before going poof like a staked vampire. In Xander's case though it was something more along the lines of 'there he is' then a camera flash effect and then 'where did Xander go'.

A wide array of reactions could be seen on those present and all of them making it clear how they felt about the founding male member of the Scoobies. For Willow it was naturally one of shock with sadness and grief not far behind if she didn't get a reassuring explanation of what just happened soon. On Mrs. Gwendolyn Post the look was one of pleasant surprise followed quickly by an almost erotic sensation of pleasure at the power her new weapon had just displayed. On the face of one Buffy Summers there was shock much like that on the face of Willow Rosenberg but instead of sadness being the next emotion to arrive it was the cold look of the Slayer unleashed. Gone was any sign of the slightly dim cheerleader attitude she usually exhibited and in its place was the warrior she was chosen to embody. All this was summed up into a single statement that echoed through the blonde Slayer's mind at that precise moment.

'This **BITCH** is **DEAD**!'

Xander though would know none of this because he was already traveling headlong down a path that would be filled with revelations, adventures, experiences and numerous women who will try to kill him sooner or later.

In short just another case of Xander's luck trying to kill him.

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_**2000 years in the past (give or take a few decades), Brittania, Temple of Dahak **_

"The hand of Dahak will sweep the Earth, bringing with it the winter of a thousand years, killing everyone who stands in the way of his world." Declared the priestess Meridian as she stood with dagger raised above the tied down form of the man known as Khrafstar.

"No! This isn't our god! Gabrielle!" Khrafstar yelled as he struggled in the bonds holding him down on the altar.

"With this blood, we praise Dahak, the Dark One." Meridian said as she prepared to plunge the dagger into the man before her.

In another universe, in another reality, this would have been the moment when the young blonde Gabrielle would have freed herself from the priest and worshipper restraining her and freed the man about to be sacrificed only to discover that she had been tricked into murder. In this place, in this reality, though someone who didn't think too highly of what the people in this temple were trying to do decided to intervene and get a laugh in at the same time. Just as the Bard Gabrielle was about to make her move there was a blinding flash within the temple forcing everyone's eyes to shut tightly. When everyone's eyes cleared up what they saw both surprised and confused them but it was a safe bet that no one was more confused than the young man that had apparently been dropped on Meridian.

Xander was surprisingly quicker to recover from his disorientation than the others and what he saw left him mentally asking all the usually questions like who, what, when, where and why the **hell** does this stuff always happen to me. Looking down he was grateful to see that he didn't have a smoking hole in his stomach from the lightning that Post woman had sent at him and Willow. In fact the only sign that he had been even struck was the tattered and scorched remains of the shirt and that left him pretty much shirtless since smoking pieces of cloth didn't constitute a shirt. It was then that he took a closer look at what was going on and realized that he had just interrupted a classic 'robed figures sacrifice' ritual. Also judging from the lumpy soft thing he felt beneath him he had just landed on the head priestess (yes he could tell what gender based on the curves and size) and that made him think he was about to be introduced to several pointy things soon. Jumping to his feet he looked about for a weapon and saw that the priestess had apparently been about to plunge a dagger into the guy strapped to the altar. Grabbing it he picked it up and then stopped to decide what he was going to do next. There were about six other robed guys aside from Miss Dagger and apparently the blonde girl they were restraining was next in line for the sacrificial slab. Deciding it might be a good idea to give the cult wackos one more person to chase after he moved to the altar and began to cut the man on it free.

"Who are you?" the man asked with confusion and something else that Xander wasn't paying enough attention to identify.

"Name's Xander. Don't worry I'll have you free in a second." He said as he finished cutting one rope and started to work on another.

Sadly the cultists apparently took exception to this and were mad enough that their shock and confusion no longer inhibited action. One charged him with a sword and while his first inclination would be to get out of the way of the sharp pointy thing that wanted to hurt him he couldn't risk this guy finishing what Miss Dagger started. So trying to put his best foot forward he lashed out with a side kick hoping to knock the guy on his butt long enough to at least finish cutting through the rope he was working on. What he got however was a kick that went past knocking the guy on his butt and shot straight to sending the cultist flying through the air until he slammed into the wall of the temple. So shocked was he that his foot hung there in the air as if it had been frozen in place. Fortunately the sight of the other approaching cultists, all with implements of death, with their intentions clear for him to see. Deciding to see if his newfound super strength was a fully body deal instead of just the legs he reached over to the last rope and instead of cutting through it with the dagger he grabbed it with one hand and yanked as hard as he could. Like it was made of dental floss the rope snapped leaving the man intended for sacrifice free to flee and Xander more able to deal with the approaching cultists.

Dodging to the side in order to avoid a sword slash designed to cleave him in two he quickly found out, much to his annoyance, that super speed was not included in the deal that gave him his newfound strength. No matter what he did he had just as much difficulty dodging his attackers' blades as he would evading the punches of vampires back home. Switching his grip on the dagger he held so he could more easily use it to block attacks he quickly adopted a 'block-and-punch' routine where he would hold the cultists' blades away and then immediately punch them before they could try again. Before long the only cultists still standing were the two that were still restraining Miss blonde and beautiful but that didn't last long as the young woman took advantage of her captors' attention being on him rather than her and jerked one of her arms free before tripping the cultist on her left and punching the one on her right.

_Looks like things are looking up. _Xander thought as he looked around a bit to see if any of the bad guys he had taken down were coming too, _A little more time and then all three of us will be able to get the hell out of here!_

Of course if Xander had been thinking a little more clearly and not still been a bit confused by his current circumstances he would have slapped himself silly for thinking something like that. Just like how you never say or think certain things on the Hellmouth the same sort of rules applied here if not to a greater degree. Just as you might get the attention of a vengeance demon back home if you said the 'W' word in anger if you got too optimistic in this world something bad always happened. In this case he was walking briskly over to the blonde girl intent on suggesting that they all get the hell outta here when his stupid optimism got him into trouble.

"Look out!" the blonde girl yelled as she pointed at something behind him.

Whirling around with the dagger ready to block whatever weapon the cultists were planning on using against him he was shocked and caught completely unprepared as the head priestess that he had landed on ran and impaled herself onto the dagger he had been holding. Shock ruled his word as two things overpowered his mind more than anything else. The first was that the head priestess had made no attempt to protect herself from the blade he held and had essentially committed suicide. For him suicide was a foreign and abstract concept for him. He knew it happened and he knew the basic reasons for why someone would do it but never had he ever thought he'd get to see it up close and personal. The second thing that hit him was the fact that he had played a part in this woman's death, he could feel her blood flowing over his right hand, and even as the life left her body he felt a growing sense of responsibility for what had happened.

His limp hand let go of the knife and as he watched the priestess drop to the ground with the blade still in her gut his mind threatened to shut down with only the basic systems staying online. Things like breathing and other autonomic functions stayed fine but as far as thinking and moving about went sluggish was an understatement.

"I don't know who you are Xander but thank you." The man that had been tied to the sacrificial altar said with a smile, "While we would have preferred that it had been Gabrielle who killed someone with the dagger I'm sure you'll do just as well."

Xander's only response to this was to look up from where he had been staring at the priestess' dead body and stare at the man with only a loose comprehension of what was being said.

"What are you talking about Khrafstar?" Gabrielle asked as she looked at the friend she had made with a growing feeling of dread in her stomach.

"It had originally been our intention to find some innocent maiden from a nearby village for the sacrifice but when you arrived with Xena it was clear that you were intended to take part in this sacred moment." Khrafstar replied as he casually strolled around the temple looking at his the unconscious priests from time to time, "It was here that the sacrifice was to be made but not one of flesh or blood but rather of purity. You were the one that was supposed to take up Meridian's dagger and give up your blood innocence in his name. Xander's arrival here was not expected and I have to admit for a moment I was angry that all our hard work had been ruined. Now though, seeing the look on the young man's face, I can see that like you he was innocent of evil and murder. Until now that is."

Shock and anger was in the voice of Gabrielle a she said "What's going to happen to Xander?"

"Truthfully I am not entirely certain. If things had gone according to plan you would have been impregnated with Dahak's avatar and in a matter of months she would been born into this world to carry out the Dark One's will." Khrafstar replied as he began to approach Xander slowly, "However in this case the mighty Dahak will likely take control of this young man's body and use him as his puppet here in this world. A fine choice given the strength the boy displayed in defeating my fellow followers."

"No! I won't let him!" Gabrielle vowed as she walked up and took a defensive position in front of Xander.

"You cannot thwart the will of Dahak Gabrielle. It is already too late to do anything." Khrafstar stated in a tone that made his thoughts of her promise clear, "Already it begins."

Almost as if in time with the man's words an unnatural fire erupts from the floor of the temple and engulfs the altar with the tips of the flames touching the ceiling. It is unnatural because it is bereft of fuel for nothing around the altar is flammable and each passing moment seems to only increase its power. This sight is apparently enough to bring Xander more out of the numbed state he had been locked in since the death of Meridian. However it was too little too late because with the speed of an arrow shot from a bow the flame shot out and wrapped chains of heat around his wrists and ankles. Frantically, his mind only being able to grasp that something evil was controlling the flames, he tried to free himself and called upon all the strength he could muster. Yet no matter how hard he struggled and no matter what method he tried to use to escape the flames maintained their hold on him. Gabrielle attempts to grab him but of the corner of his eye he sees her propelled backwards by an unseen force.

"Do not interfere Gabrielle. You were valuable to the great Dahak as a sacrifice but now you are simply expendable." Khrafstar declared his voice brimming with confidence and power.

"I won't let you do this!" Gabrielle yells and Xander can hear the scrape of steel against stone causing him to assume that she has picked up the sword of an unconscious cultist.

"You cannot stop it Gabrielle." Khrafstar said simply before his voice turned deathly cold, "However if you continue to make problems for me and the mighty Dahak I will have to kill you. I'm sure my god would enjoy having your blood to greet him as he enters this world."

Whatever else might have been said between the two was pushed beyond Xander's ability to comprehend as the altar exploded in fire and light. Before the sound of the explosion had even begun to dim the nature of the flames than bound him changed and instead of merely holding him in place they began to sweep over him like water. However unlike the soothing feeling one might get from the sea or a hot tub the time displaced Zeppo was enveloped with sensations similar to what amateurs go through learning how to walk over hot coals. The only difference between coal walkers and him though was that they only had to worry about their feet whereas he had to deal with the sensation of being burned alive throughout his entire being. Screams were the only way he could communicate his pain to the world because his mind could not centre itself long enough to allow him to form words. In his mind though, at its core where the most honest feelings and desires dwell, a desperate call for help was sent out to any who would hear it.

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A Hill Top Nearby, Same Time 

It was annoying to Ares that despite his efforts to have the temple of the cultists destroyed neither of the mortals he had handed the job to were doing it. Caesar wasn't doing it because the structure held no strategic importance and apparently the implied importance of destroying, even coming from him, wasn't sufficient motivation. In the case of Xena though it was the inherent mistrust and anger she felt towards him that caused her to reject his request without giving it a moment's consideration. Apparently she was still holding a grudge over his using the Furies to manipulate her mind and reform her into the ruthless warrior princess he desired. It was at times like this that he truly wondered if it was worth it to seduce Xena back to his way of thinking. Maybe he should just leave her be and find someone a bit more in line with his way of thinking rather than continue with this battle of wills. Of course this thought did not stick around long as it only took his imagining what it would be like with her as his warrior queen to reinforce his determination to win her love.

Before he could think on the matter further a primal call for help invaded his consciousness and startled him like never before. Only a select few times had anyone or anything been able to make it past the defences he had erected around his mind and spirit. In each of those rare cases only someone of considerable power or skill had managed to do so but only briefly as he threw them out soon after and then killed them. Reaching out with his godly senses he sought to find the source of this intrusion both to find out who was responsible and how to make sure it never happened again. As he searched he was puzzled to find that each and every single one of the barriers he had constructed within himself were completely intact. There was no sign that they had been attacked, broken down or circumvented in some way and yet he could still feel the call for help as clear as he had in the beginning. It was only when he traced the call back to its source that the identity of the one who called for help was revealed and the shock from this revelation almost shattered the war god's composure.

_It can't be!_ Ares thought to himself in unheard of shock, _The spell failed! I saw the remains!_

Yet no matter how he tried to convince himself otherwise there was no mistaking the feel of the young man calling out to him for help. Somehow, someway, the son he had sought to create fifteen years ago had returned and was now calling out desperately for help. The only thing that caused even the slightest bit of hesitation for him was that the young man in question was currently within the temple of the cultists and the foul power of the god the mortal's worshipped was growing stronger. Indeed he could feel that it was this evil god's power that was causing his son to suffer and he had a feeling in his gut that this Dahak intended to do more than just hurt the boy. When he had spoken to Discord earlier and reminded her that none of their fellow gods on Olympus were foolish enough to confront Dahak completely he was being honest. While his knowledge of this dark being was limited he knew enough that attacking this being or one of his strongholds was risky and held the real possibility of bringing about his demise. That was why he had decided to give the job to Caesar and then Xena although he made sure that Discord viewed his decision as logical strategy rather than fear. After all it just wouldn't do for it to become known that the god of war feared anyone or anything no matter how impressive they appeared to be. The question now though was should he put himself in danger to rescue a son he thought he had failed to bring into existence or seek out Xena and try to motivate her to get to the temple of Dahak as soon as possible.

It took him only a moment to decide and in a cascade of light he disappeared from the hilltop to rescue his only son from the clutches of the evil that threatened this world. After all if he went to Xena and tried to convince her to go he would probably have to spend several minutes persuading her to go immediately while keeping his true reasons a secret. Judging from the way the call for help was fading from his mind his son didn't have that kind of time. There was no way he was going to let this unexpected opportunity slip through his fingers a second time.

It was time this Dahak met Ares, God of War.

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	7. Counterparts and Causes

_He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)/BtVS crossover_

"_Counterparts and Causes" (tentative title, subject to change, suggestions welcome)_

_Takes place at the end of season 6 in BtVS after 'Hells Bells' and after the last aired episode of the 2002 He-Man cartoon_

_**Two Miles North of Sunnydale, Mid-Morning**_

"So why are we going to the spooky skull-faced castle that the recent earthquake unearthed again?" Xander asked wanting to understand why they were doing something he considered **very** dangerous.

"Because Xander given its proximity to the Hellmouth and its less than benevolent design it is likely to contain certain talismans and magicks that may prove dangerous should they fall into the wrong hands." Giles replied as he led the group of Scoobies through the forest towards the location of the unearthed castle, "When that fact is added to the disturbing revelation that there is no record in any of my books of such a castle ever existing and I shudder to think what secrets it may hold."

"Again I ask **why**? If the place is so full of bad mojo let's just swing by my by construction company and grab a box or two of good old TNT and bury the place again." Xander said not wanting to go near a place that had G-Man 'shuddering' anytime soon, "Then maybe Willow can work a mind whammy on the right people to make 'em forget about this place."

"Setting aside the fact that magic capable of tampering with a person's memory is decidedly dark it is unlikely to keep the castle safe from demons or dark magic users." Giles said beginning to show signs of being weary of Xander's growing anxiety, "The strongest and most dangerous members of both groups would likely have formidable mental defences in place making any attempt to alter their memories useless. I am afraid we have no choice but to enter this skull castle before they get a chance to and remove all items of power while Buffy slays any creatures that might still be alive inside. As you would likely say 'live with it'."

Grumbling a bit Xander reluctantly decided to keep his mouth shut for the remainder of the trip. As much as he didn't like the idea of poking around in some castle unearthed so close to the Hellmouth he couldn't fault Giles' reasons for going. Spooky places like this castle, especially buried ones, tended to have all sorts of nasty little glow balls and super weapons that could make for one serious headache if left for the brain trust that was the demon population of Sunnyhell. When one considered all the baddies that had come to the Hellmouth looking to start trouble he actually thought that they had been pretty lucky so far. Oh sure there had been a few that had been powerful and some that even had something resembling a brain in their skulls but considering how many evil magic baubles and demon warriors there likely were in the world it could have been a lot worse. If Glory, Mayor 'I-wanna-be-a-giant-snake' Wilkens or even Angelus had taken a moment to think things through they would have figured out that if they gathered an army or collected a small horde of magical weapons before going on the offensive then there would've been no way Buffy and the gang could have stopped them. After all they were just a group of young people and one stuffy Brit when you got right down to it. Sure they each had something special to bring to the fight but in a fight between the Scoobies and an organized army of baddies and he'd bet on the bad guys. It wasn't that he thought Buffy and the others weren't good at what they did but rather it was a matter of numbers as well as overall power. No matter how good they were they'd be massacred if the demon they went up against tried to overwhelm them with numbers or overpower them with some magical do-dad. Fortunately demons and dark magic users were either too proud or too stupid to think of such obvious roads to victory.

_May the forces of evil always be made up of morons, idiots and the intellectually challenged._ He thought as he continued to follow the gang through the trees.

It took two hours but eventually they made it to their destination. Fortunately it looked like the museum people and the archaeology people from U.C Sunnydale weren't there. It is through his contacts at the museum that Giles had found out about the uncovered castle in the first place. The Watcher had been a little worried later in the discussion with the curator when it was revealed that the crew the man had dispatched had been working on the castle since the day after the quake. The only good news apparently was that no matter how hard the museum workers tried they couldn't get the drawbridge that was the skull's lower jaw down. Fortunately they weren't quite at the point where they were willing to use explosives to open up 'such a monumental archaeological find' yet but there was no telling how long that would last. Which was why he and the gang were going now, on a Saturday morning, to clear out all the dangerous stuff while those not in the know were home in bed. How did he know the museum and UC Sunnydale people were in bed right now? Because that's where he wanted to be right now!

"Wow! I wonder what the guy who built this was thinking when he drew up the blueprints for this place?" asked Willow as she looked up at the castle still half buried in solid rock.

"I'm thinking it was something along the lines of 'bow down before the scary and mighty Mr. Me'." Xander quipped even though he did think that the design of the castle was meant for intimidation purposes.

"More like 'I have a nasty overbite and a thick skull'. Some ancient vamp probably built it." Buffy said completely ignoring the spooky overtones and possible evil of the place.

"If that is indeed the case then matters may be worse than I thought." Giles said as he walked up to the drawbridge to examine it more closely, "Any vampire that ancient would be quite powerful, perhaps more so than the Turokhan of legend, and could very well still be inside. I pray that is not the case though."

"So how are we going to get in?" Tara asked while readjusting the position of the right strap of the backpack carrying a few magical ingredients and items, "I mean if the people from the museum and the university couldn't figure out how to lower the drawbridge what can we do?"

"While there are a few hidden mechanisms invented by demon kind for opening drawbridges I suspect that a specific spell or aura is required for the drawbridge to open." Giles replied as he continued to look at every crack and niche in as well as around the thick wooden barrier in front of him, "While I attempt to locate a mechanical way to gain entry to the castle I suggest the rest of you help Willow and Tara unpack their supplies in case we end up requiring a magical method instead."

With that said the Scoobies left the Watcher to his squinting while they laid out the contents of the two wiccan's backpacks according to their instructions. It was an odd arrangement and he couldn't understand why they couldn't just put the bottles, boxes and baubles all in one group rather than put them in specific spots like books in a library. However Willow was very strict about what went where and after one stern warning about not placing the entrails of something-or-other next to the powdered-thing-a-ma-bob he decided to just do as he was told.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Five Hours Later**_

"Bloody **hell!**" Giles growled in frustration as yet another mystic attempt to lower the drawbridge of the skull castle failed.

"Look on the bright side G-Man! If we can't get in then what are the chances that someone else will?" Xander asked in an optimistic manner hoping to dispel the Watcher's increasingly foul mood.

"Perhaps you are right." Giles conceded as the frustration began to lift from his countenance, "Still I would prefer it if we tried a little longer to gain entry. Perhaps your suggestion of employing dynamite might yield better results."

"Never fear the Xan-man is here!" he said jokingly as he opened up his backpack to reveal two crates: one marked 'TNT' while the other had markings that had the rest of the gang staring at it in shock.

"Xander! What're you doing with C4!" Buffy exclaimed as she had seen enough action films to know how powerful the substance was and that it wasn't exactly widely available to the public.

"Well… when Glory was causing all that trouble and you had a hard time fighting her I thought it might be time for something a **little** unexpected." Xander replied as he brought out the fuses and timers for the explosives, "So I paid a visit to the military base again and 'borrowed' some of their C4 but I never got the chance to use it. So I decided to stash it away for an impending apocalypse and thought I'd bring it here in case we couldn't get in any other way."

"Don't you think it's a little odd that you managed to get away with 'borrowing' something like that?" Willow asked a little concerned that her best guy friend might've stepped into a bit of trouble without knowing it, "Okay you managed to get a rocket launcher from them to stop The Judge but they can't be stupid enough not to tighten security after that. Right?"

"Actually the stupid thing for them to do would be to admit that a pair of civilians, high school students at the time, managed to get onto the base and steal a rocket launcher right out from under their noses." Xander replied as he began to carve up the C4 into smaller pieces for his plan, "After all it wouldn't do any of their careers any good if word of that got around."

Much as the gang didn't like the idea of their friend ripping off the U.S military they had to admit that the base personnel wouldn't want a black mark on their records if they could avoid it.

"While I must insist we have a chat later about robbing the American military your proposal would seem to be our only hope now." Giles stated while polishing his glasses, "The rest of us will get to a safe distance while you place the charges."

"You mean I have to set this up by **myself?" **Xander asked with some surprise as he watched the gang put some distance between themselves and the castle.

"Well you are the only one among us with the requisite knowledge of explosives." Giles replied as he followed the girls, "Best of luck Xander."

Shaking his head in disbelief at his friends he sighed and decided that he might as well get to work right away. Gathering up the first package of TNT and C4 he moved to the lower right side of the drawbridge as it was point number one of his strategic plan to place the explosives at key structural points. Kneeling down he did his best to wedge the package right in between the stone of the castle and the wood of the drawbridge but then something happened that he could not have foreseen. In a moment of chance his hand came into direct contact with the wood of the drawbridge and instead of feeling the roughness of aged wood a crackle of energy leapt from that spot at him. It coursed up his arm like high voltage electricity but before he could discern more he was flung away from the drawbridge crashing back to the ground twenty yards away.

"XANDER!" Willow exclaimed in shock although to him her voice was somewhat muted due to the unique brand of shock he himself was feeling.

The pain and the disorientation quickly passed but that wasn't something he wanted to go through again if he could do anything about it. However, as he pushed himself into a sitting position, he was quickly given incentive to haul ass because coming down at a barely controlled rate was the drawbridge of the castle. Scrambling to his feet at though his life depended on in, which it did, he ran as fast as he could to the right as it would allow him to clear the width of the drawbridge since the length would squash him if he tried to go that way. As it was he just barely managed to get clear before what could easily have been a foot thick drawbridge crashed down behind him. So violent was the crash that he nearly lost his footing but thankfully six years of fighting demons and vampires had helped improve his agility as well as his balance. Turning around he found the Scoobies in an odd assortment of moods: Giles was surprised, Willow was shocked and the two blondes were shaking their heads in amusement at what he had unintentionally done.

"Well… it's open… just like I promised! See! Nothing to it." He said trying to make it sound like it had all been a part of his plan.

They didn't believe it for even one second.

"Yes, well, let's get inside and begin our survey of the castle's contents." Giles said as he recovered from the fact that all it took to open a seemingly impenetrable castle was Xander's knack for getting into trouble.

Looking at the ink-like darkness revealed by the lowering of the drawbridge Xander couldn't help but curse the Harris luck for once again messing things up for him. Hopefully though this was the big piece of bad luck and all that was left for him to deal with was the smaller silver dollar sized bits of Harris luck.

_OH SHIT! I can't believe I just **thought** that! _Xander thought as he trotted along behind his friends into the castle, _I AM SO SCREWED!_

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Next Dimension Over, The Planet Eternia, Castle Grayskull**_

It was a dark day on Eternia and for the first time since He-Man appeared to do battle with Skeletor none were sure if the light would ever shine again.

It had started a little over a week ago after the defeat of the god of the Snake Men, Serpos, had been placed back in its petrified state of Snake Mountain. King Hiss was believed to be dead or at the very least wounded seriously enough that he would not be troubling anyone for many weeks. All in all it was believed that there would be a sizeable period of peace on Eternia even if it wouldn't last as long as many would like. Perhaps that was why the palace guard was caught unawares and the Masters were a bit slower to respond than usual. In any case when the remnants of King Hiss' forces, led by Rattlor, attacked the palace of the royal family they moved with a speed unseen in other encounters. It didn't take long for their target to become known since the moment they laid eyes on Prince Adam, son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, they pursued him with almost fanatic determination. This was terrible news because with the exception of Man-at-Arms, Orko and The Sorceress no one else knew that the young golden haired man was in fact the alter-ego of He-Man. In most encounters previously the young man would have managed to find an empty room or a deserted hallway to transform into the muscled defender of Eternia but the Snake Men were not giving him that opportunity.

It took some time, Adam knew the palace better than the Snake Men, but eventually they managed to corner him in the throne room and they outnumbered him five to one. He put up a brave fight, a fight that would be retold to all in the days after the attack by an injured soldier who had seen every moment of it, but in the end they knocked his sword from his hand and threw him to the ground. It was thought by the damaged guard that this was the moment in which he would see his prince and future king slain before his very eyes and it angered him to no end that he was unable to intervene. However this soldier of Eternia would remark in the days that followed that perhaps death would have been a far kinder fate than the Snake Men's true intentions. Not more than a few seconds after the Prince hit the ground Rattlor removed an emerald sphere, perfectly round and smooth, from a pouch at his side and began to chant in a language the guard didn't recognise. The end result though was all too understandable for in a flash of light that blinded the guard everything changed and when his eyes adjusted he was shocked at what he saw. There green sphere was gone from Rattlor's hand and where Prince Adam had laid on the ground there was now a boulder sized emerald sphere with the prince trapped inside. The young man did not move, did not speak, didn't appear to be alive but frozen like a statue within the confines of his shiny prison. With their objective apparently accomplished Rattlor and his Snake Men army quickly retreated and scattered in all directions once outside the palace walls.

Tremors of shock and dismay echoed throughout the kingdom in the days that followed as news of the Prince's imprisonment reached the ears of all. All manner of scientist and magic user loyal to King Randor came to the palace to offer their aide in freeing the young prince. Some did so out of the kindness of their own hearts while others no doubt expected a hefty reward considering it was the son of the king they'd be saving. Alas all their efforts would be in vain as nothing they did even put a scratch into the emerald sphere. Even the intelligent Man-at-Arms and the mysterious Sorceress made attempts to break the prison apart but they faired little better only managing to create a crack. That crack sealed itself up quickly preventing the prince's rescuers from taking advantage of the momentary weakness in the prison's structural integrity. While this was enough to discourage those 'helpers' interested in profit enough to leave those of a more benevolent nature continued to work towards freeing Adam. However as the Masters came to realise in the past two days their situation was worsening though only Man-at-Arms knew the truth.

Emboldened by their successful imprisonment of Prince Adam the Snake Men began their efforts to conquer Eternia anew. So far the Masters had managed to push them back each time but only by the slimmest of margins and the reason for that was clear. While each member of the group possessed skills and abilities that made them formidable warriors none of them possessed sufficient power to make up for the absence of He-Man. Like it or not they had become used to the most powerful man in the universe fighting by their side and lending his considerable strength to the fight. With him absent there was a considerable difference in how the battles went with victory being theirs mostly because of the arrogance of their enemies. All of the Masters were wondering where He-Man was and why he had not been present to fight by their side but none had any answers save Duncan and he wisely chose to keep silent. For if the others knew the truth, that Prince Adam was He-Man, it would be a terrible blow to their morale and would weaken their fighting spirits even more than not knowing where their comrade was.

However what worried Duncan though was how long it would be before Skeletor decided to make a move. Thus far there had been precious few sightings of the skull-faced lord of evil and in most cases the villain was gone long before any of the Masters could arrive at the scene to fight him. Aside from the sightings there had been no attacks on either Castle Grayskull or the palace by forces connected to Skeletor. It wouldn't last though. As soon as the ruler of Snake Mountain was sure enough that He-Man wouldn't come out to face him he would begin his campaign of conquest with a vengeance. Facing the Snake Men on one front and Skeletor's warriors on the other was a serious problem and one the Masters had to solve as soon as possible.

While Man-at-Arms and the benevolent scientists of Eternia continued to try and free Prince Adam the guardian of Castle Grayskull was taking a different approach. While the Sorceress was confident that she could eventually find a way to pierce the emerald prison containing Eternia's champion she didn't believe it could be done in time to keep ultimate victory from either the Snake Men or Skeletor. That left only one option: she had to find a champion as powerful and as skilled as Prince Adam was as He-Man. One might think it was a simple job of finding a warrior with a mind and personality similar to Prince Adam then give that person the Sword of Power. However it was not nearly that simple. From the moment that Adam took hold of the Sword of Power he became its bearer and it would not accept a new wielder until the previous one was dead. That left her with but one option and she prayed that it would succeed for if it did not then darkness would envelope Eternia forever.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**One Dimension Backwards, Inside the Castle, Two Miles North of Sunnydale**_

_**Three Hours After Entering the Castle**_

"Anybody have any ideas 'cause we could use a couple right now!" Xander exclaimed with more than a little bit of fear.

Surrounded on all sides by a horde of demons that Giles couldn't identify the Xan-Man had to wonder how they'd all gotten into this mess.

_Oh I know! Buffy saw an 'oohhh pretty' and set off a booby-trap! _He thought a little snarkily as he swung the rusted sword in his hand to drive off one of the demons.

Things had started off easy enough and he had to admit that the inside of the castle, while most certainly spooky, had a certain 'Lord of the Rings' appeal to him. Giles of course was 'fascinating' about everything and Willow wasn't far behind except she was more interested with the vibes she was getting off of the place. They were good vibes to everyone's surprise and after taking a moment to utilize his not-often-used arcane senses G-Man confirmed that the residual magic in the castle was not demonic in nature. Buffy of course complained that this contradicted what he said earlier and supported her own opinion of the place by pointing out the creepy décor. Of course then the elder Watcher pointed out that looks can be deceiving and made some Brit comment about the stereotype about blondes. This earned him a glare from the Slayer but it did have the side effect of keeping her quiet for a time.

The exploring and the surveying went on for the next two hours or so until they had come to some kind of throne room. Of course what captured everyone's attention right off the bat was the big honkin' golden pyramid sitting on the other side of the room with a throne that had wings poking out of the sides at the top. This completely dumbfounded the group since it was odd that an apparently gothic style castle had an Egyptian style throne room. Giles had looked like someone, a blonde short someone, had told him that it was God that ruled Hell and the Devil that ruled Heaven. In short he was both shocked and experiencing major difficulty in accepting what his eyes were transmitting to his brain. Eventually though he told them to begin looking over the place since it made sense that items of some importance would be located in the throne room.

In retrospect though he should have taken the time to tell Buffy not to touch anything suspicious looking until he had a chance himself to look it over.

It was not ten minutes after they had gone to search different areas of the throne room that the first sign of badness, the proverbial lights suddenly coming on, showed itself. Looking about the room to both find the source of the light as well as determine what or rather who might have caused it they found their blonde Slayer friend next to the throne holding a golden staff with a falcon at its top in her hands. Both he and Giles only had time to curse Buffy for not being more cautious with unknown and potentially magical artefacts before the second sign of badness showed up. This came in the form of a horde of demons that looked like a cross between serpents and lizards given that they walked on four legs but had very long necks. Fortunately they weren't much bigger than a dog and about as smart as a mutt as well but that was where the good news ended. Their strength and speed were easily equal to newly risen vampire and when added to the sheer number of them it was clear the Scooby gang had their work cut out for them. Grabbing the nearest available object that could be used for a weapon each member of the gang had been ready to kick ass and take names.

Forty minutes later though none of them were quite as confident of their eventual victory as they had been when the fighting had begun, hence him asking for some ideas on how to get out of the mess they were in. They had managed to kill quite a few of the demons attacking them but there were always more creeping out of the shadows. Eventually the entire gang was forced into a tight circle around the pyramid with each looking like they had maybe one more smackdown in them before they feel down with fatigue.

"Aside from keep fighting until these beasts lose interest? I am afraid not." Giles replied before decapitating one of the demons with a large axe.

"Given how they've probably been locked up in this place since it was buries I think it's pretty safe to say their stomachs are in the driver's seat right now." He said before use a spike mace to bash his own demonic sparring partner across the face.

That turned out to be the wrong thing to do since not more than three seconds later the demon he had hit retaliated by hitting him across the chest with its tail. So powerful was the hit that it sent him up into the air to the top of the pyramid where the throne was positioned. Needless to say when he touched down he had pain both across his chest and his back not to mention he'd dropped his mace. Pushing himself to his feet with a moan he looked down at the bottom of the golden pyramid to see if anyone else had been knocked around like he had. From what he could tell they were still managing to hold their own for the moment but with his bird's eye view of the room he doubt it'd be for much longer. From atop the pyramid he could see the demons coming in from every available doorway, window, crack and crevice in the room. If this kept up they'd be dead long before they made so much as a dent in the numbers of this horde of demons.

_Our only chance is to fight our way out **BIG TIME** while we still have the strength to do it!_ Xander thought as he frantically looked around for a weapon.

It took a few moments but he soon spotted a broadsword lying on the ground just behind the throne. Buffy had likely missed it because the room was so dark and the steel grey of weapon made it hard to see in the shadows. It was kind of odd looking to him. It started off normal enough with a round pommel and smooth handle but then it expanded outward to for the handle guard and then drooped inward just a little for about three quarters of a foot before finally returning to the width the handle was ending with a sharp tip at the pointy end. (For those of you who are having trouble visualizing the sword just picture the He-Man's sword of power from the 1983 series). Picking it up he almost immediately dropped it as a crackle of energy very similar to the one that had leapt from the drawbridge flowed up his arm from the sword. The funny thing was that there was no pain, no repelling field sending him flying, just some weird tingly sensation like when circulation begins to return to an arm that had fallen asleep. In any case this went on for ten seconds before the energy dispersed and he was left wondering what had just happened. Actually his precise words were a tad more colourfully vulgar but it was pretty easy to understand what he was trying to say. Shaking off the weirdness of the moment he charged down the steps to where the gang was intending to tell them his "let's get out of here" plan when again it seemed as though his unique brand of luck had come to their aide.

The moment he came within ten feet of the demons they immediately began to back away from him. It was almost the same sort of reaction he got from vampires when he shoved a cross in their demonic faces but twice as potent. His mind quickly came up with a theory as to what was going on but just to confirm it he charged a group of the demons head on. Like parting the proverbial red sea the demons scattered in his wake and given that the only thing that had changed from a couple of minutes ago was his new sword it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why they were retreating.

"Xander? Where'd you get the sword?" Buffy asked as she and the others got in close around him so as to be within the demon free zone the sword was somehow creating.

"Up behind the throne. Don't have a clue as to why these snake-dogs are afraid of it but I say we use this opportunity to get the **HELL** out of here!" he said as he began moving towards the entrance/exit to the throne.

"No! Not until we find some way of resealing the drawbridge!" Giles yelled as he pulled a rabbit out of his hat in the form of a spread of mini-fireballs from his right hand, "We cannot let these demons escape the castle. We are responsible for lowering the drawbridge in the first place so we must be the ones to remedy the situation."

"No offence Giles BUT ARE YOU NUTS?" Xander exclaimed as the demons stayed with them trotting along just outside the protective range of the sword, "We have no idea how I managed to lower the drawbridge in the first place much less how to raise it again. Besides which there's no way we could keep the demons inside long enough to shut them in anyway so let's just go."

"There are a few spells of sealing that can be performed without preparation." Giles said as they continued down the hallway to the main entrance and the drawbridge, "If I combined my magic with Willow and Tara's it should be enough to trap them inside the castle until a more permanent solution can be devised. However there is a risk."

"What kind of risk?" Willow asked as she fired off another bolt from a crossbow she had found in the castle that still worked.

"By casting the spell we will quite literally be putting our own souls at risk. Should these demons somehow manage to shatter our spell of sealing the resulting backlash of energy would at the very least render us weak for days." Giles replied as they picked up the pace to the main entrance.

"And in the worst case scenario?" Tara asked remarkably managing to keep her fear from triggering a stuttering spell like she used to have when under stress.

"We will likely die." Giles replied honestly before putting on one of his best reassuring smiles, "However I am sure that with our combined magic we will easily be able to keep them contained until Xander can figure out how he opened the drawbridge before and close it. After all these demons have shown no signs of intelligence or magical abilities of their own so the most they can do after the spell is claw at the barrier."

Xander **DID NOT** like that plan one little bit since it put not only the man he saw as a surrogate father at risk but also the one person who knew him as well as he knew himself. It was times like these that he almost wished that he acted wiser or at least more insightful around the gang so they'd take his suggestions seriously. If they had then maybe they would have listened to him when he said they should re-bury the place and flashy-thing the necessary people to eliminate knowledge of the castle's existence. He understood what Giles had said before about it being dangerous dark mojo messing with people's head's but given their current situation it was definitely the safer option.

_There is another way to seal the demons back inside the castle, perhaps even rid yourself of them altogether. _

"What the--?" Xander asked in shock as a voice spoke in his head causing him to stop forty yards short of the main entrance and the drawbridge.

_However there will be a price. You will have to go on a journey and I know not when you may be able to see your friends again._

Looking to his friends and then back at the horde of demons that still remained as close as they could to their prey without entering the ten feet mark he realised that there was no real choice in the end. His friends were his world, they were his family, and if taking a little trip someplace was the price for making sure Giles, Willow and Tara lived then so be it.

"Fine! Just tell me what I have to do." He said not knowing whether the one who had spoken to him required a vocal reply or a mental one.

_Raise the sword you carry over your head and yell 'By the Power of Grayskull'. Do it quickly before your friends notice your absence and attempt to intervene!_

While not entirely liking how the voice was against his friends interfering he could understand that if they did come back in his direction they would be inside the castle again and likely be sealed in with him when he did as the voice commanded. Therefore, despite she Saturday morning sound of it, he did as the voice bid and raised the sword he had found high above his head.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!" he yelled and with those words power personified was released within the castle for the first time in many millennia.

Like water exploding out of a collapsing dam a light of ultimate white surged forth from deep within the castle rushing through every corridor, crack and window. It swept over the demon hordes around him in seconds wiping them from existence as though they had been made from smoke. The energy continued along its path without slowing until it passed over the Xan-Man and encountered the main entrance to the castle. There the leading edge of the energy slowed to a crawl before enveloping both the frame of the entrance and the drawbridge itself in its harsh white light. Then with the clanking of heavy chains and the grinding of gears rusted almost still by the passage of time the drawbridge rose to seal the entrance to the castle shut. Xander however could see none of this for the light was too bright for him to open his eyes to look in any direction at all. All he was able to perceive was the sounds of the drawbridge closing and his friends yelling at him to run for the entrance as fast as he could. Sadly without his sight being able to tell which direction the entrance was in and getting there was not likely going to happen even if he had decided to renege on his deal with the voice.

_There, the deed is done and your friend's are safe, prepare yourself for your journey is about to begin._

_What exactly do—AAAAARRRRGGGHH!_ Xander thought before the very energy that had only minutes ago dispatched the demons converged on him with all the subtlety of an avalanche.

Where before the energy had either repelled him or introduced a tingly sensation in a limb it now felt as though he was being burned alive from the inside out. The funny thing was that on some peripheral level he knew that his actual body temperature hadn't changed so much as a single degree but that didn't make the pain any easier to take. For a moment though he felt as though the energy was beginning to disappear but in truth it was just gathering its strength for the final push. With the power of a rage filled grizzly bear it slammed into him sending him off into the quiet painless state of unconsciousness where thoughts give way to dreams.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Unknown Location, Unknown Amount of Time Later**_

"Oooohhh! Next time I go on a journey I'm putting someone else besides a weird voice in charge of the travel arrangements." Xander groaned as consciousness returned and a slight headache told him he was still alive.

Taking a moment to clear his head he then opened his eyes to look around since finding out what his current predicament was took top priority considering what it had been the last time he'd been conscious. What he saw with his eyes was the cold grey stonework of a castle that meant either his travelling papers hadn't been in order and he was still in the ancient castle or he had just exchanged one castle for another. On the plus side though he was on something comfy and that was a definite improvement over the hard cold stone floor of a castle hallway. Sitting up he found that someone had placed him in a room decorated like a medieval castle and judging from the way it conformed to his body the mattress he was on definitely didn't contain springs but rather feathers. That still left him wondering where exactly he was and since there wasn't a note lying around telling him to stay put he felt a little reconnaissance was in order.

That plan came to a halt the moment he got out of bed to find that someone had changed his clothes without his knowledge or permission. That led to a whole assortment of imaginings ranging from a beautiful maid servant doing it, which he had to admit wouldn't have been too bad, to some wrinkly manservant and that made him shudder like only seeing Snyder in a thong could do. As for the clothes themselves they weren't all bad. Grey pants, white shirt, brown vest with shoulder pads, elbow length gloves and unless his eyes deceived him a pair of black boots were on the floor next to the bed. Deciding that walking around a castle barefoot wasn't a good idea he slipped them on and after a few adjustments to make them fit better turned to leave the room. Naturally that was the time that someone decided to check on him because the moment he finished taking his second step to the door it opened to reveal a vision of beauty.

A winged woman stood before him and it made him think that if he wasn't she wasn't an angel than she was pretty damn close. Knee high Xena-like boots, an Egyptian style skirt than showed a nice amount of leg, gold and blue body armour as well as a headdress with a falcon theme to it. All in all she looked like she'd be right at home walking down a fashion runway modelling some designers Egypt themed clothes because she definitely had the figure for it.

"Why thank you Alexander. A woman always appreciates being complimented on her appearance." The winged woman said with a smile.

"Wha… how… huh?" he asked as he tried to figure out how she had known what he'd been thinking.

"giggle I am sorry Alexander. When I entered the room I briefly touched your mind telepathically in order to ascertain if you had recovered from your trip here." Ms. Wings stated as her smile shrank to a grin.

"No problem. Just no more peeking inside my head without asking first okay?" he asked as he tried in vain to control his thoughts to keep from embarrassing himself any further.

"Agreed. Now, you must be wondering where you are, correct?" Ms. Angel-woman asked stepping away from the door in a silent invitation to precede her out of the room.

Just nodding he decided to let her call the shots for the time being and left the room he'd woken up in with Ms. Heavenly Body taking up the rear. As they walked down the hallway the woman introduced herself as 'The Sorceress' and that they were inside Castle Grayskull on the planet of Eternia. He tried to ask what exactly was 'the journey' he'd have to go on but she said she would explain when they reached the throne room. She went onto give a broad description of Eternia from the various regions that made up the planet to the various races that inhabited those regions. He did his best to take it all in, treating it like just another research session at the Magic Box, but it was slightly harder since he was literally there rather than reading about it in a book. Eventually they entered what could only be the throne room and what the Xan-man saw stopped him in his tracks. There laid out before him was the very throne room that he and his friends had fought their way out of except that room had been falling apart and deserted while this one was lived in and maintained.

"This is the other dimensional counterpart to the castle you were in when I contacted you. While I know not what fate befell that Castle Grayskull beyond a vague impression of great evil it was because you entered it that I was able to find you amidst the great sea of realities." The Sorceress explained as she turned to face him, "And to answer the question that you are no doubt about to ask 'no I did not read your mind again'. I merely read your expression and deduced what most likely had caused it."

"Okay then how about you get to explaining about this journey I need to take 'cause the sooner I get it done the sooner I you can send me home." He said as he decided he could trust the Sorceress at least where the topic of unethical mind reading was concerned.

Nodding she brought her right hand out in front of her and in a flash of light a staff appeared in her hand that was almost identical to the one Buffy had found which had triggered the demon attack. It lent a little credit to her counterpart story and as she waved it through the air to her left a magical screen much like a holographic display appeared. Once it finished forming images appeared and the winged woman began to explain the current crisis and her reasons for bringing him to Eternia. He had to admit that her reasons were good with two baddie forces threatening to trounce the good guys being a definite problem. How he was supposed to help out he didn't know. He might have been good fighting demons and other Hellmouthy stuff but if the big bads out there were as deadly as they appeared to be on the magic screen he was a **scooch** out of his league.

"Look I'm flattered that you think I'm such a hero and everything but I don't think I could do much more than bleed on these guys for you." He said once the Sorceress dispelled the screen into the nothingness from which it came, "I mean give me a vampire or a Polgara demon and I can probably take them down but Snake Men and freaky skull-faced warlocks are way out of my league."

"That is where the sword you found in your Castle Grayskull will be of help." The Sorceress said before using a magical form of telekinesis to summon the item in question to where they were standing, "It is the counterpart to the one wielded by Prince Adam that allows him to transform into He-Man. With it you should be able to channel the power of the Elders and become just as powerful as Prince Adam does when he calls upon the power."

"Should is not exactly 'will' Sorceress and—" Xander said trying to talk the woman out of making a mistake when her head snapped to her right and a look of concern crossed her features, "What's wrong?"

Not paying him any heed she took to the air and flew to the throne that sat atop the pyramid but instead of sitting down she thrust the head of her staff at the space between the two golden wings that extended out and up from the sides of the pyramid. With a blast of golden energy a large circular mirror appeared and after a wave of light passed across its surface a scene appeared that answered his question. The image was of a forest that was laid out in front of Castle Grayskull and flying towards it were four large gryphons. Another wave of light swept across the mirror's surface and a closer look at the gryphons was provided allowing a perfect look at who was riding them. He recognised them instantly from the Reader's Digest version of current events the Sorceress had shown him minutes earlier. Skeletor and his minions were on their way and he doubted it was to give notice of their full and unconditional surrender.

"Skeletor has chosen the worst possible time to abandon his former position of observing his enemies." The Sorceress said grimly since the current circumstances were not in the favour of the side of good.

"What about these Masters of the Universe you told me about?" he asked as he could predict what course of action she would ask of him if she had to, "Can't you summon them to protect Grayskull?"

"Even if I were to summon them right now it would still take them time to get here. By then it could be too late." The Sorceress replied as she turned away from the scene of the approaching evil and looked down upon him from the top of the pyramid, "I am afraid I must ask you to go into battle much sooner than I had intended. Will you help me defend Castle Grayskull?"

"Just tell me what you need me to do." Xander said with resolve woven into his very stance and in the fire within his eyes.

"Merely repeat the action that banished the demons from the Grayskull of your world and you will be endowed with the power you need to do battle with Skeletor." The Sorceress replied with a smile of gratitude.

_Here's hoping we get more than a fancy lightshow! _Xander thought before raising the sword over his head and yelling, "BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!"

With those words events transpired much as they had in his native dimension but with one monumental difference. This time a cloud of energy formed on the ceiling of the throne room, growing in intensity, and once it reached critical a bolt of energy dropped from it enveloping both him and the sword completely. Once completely enveloped a change came over him as he grew a full seven inches in a matter of moments and put on more muscle than most elite male bodybuilders just as quickly. At this point most people might begin to worry about his clothes being shredded as he was quickly exceeding them in size but fortunately the magic responsible for his transformation took care of that as well. The moment it looked as though his clothes would begin to rip they vanished to be replaced with a new outfit though considering how much cloth was actually involved he looked like an extra for the next Conan the Barbarian movie. His boots once solid black were now brown and instead of pants all he had was what could easily be called 'furry underwear/briefs'. An orange belt appeared around his waist, presumably to keep the underwear up or something, and then a steel grey harness appeared with a red cross adorning a plate atop his chest. His black hair then lengthened until it reached his shoulders completing the Conan look nicely. Orange forearm braces then appeared to top the whole get up off.

With that final accessory the energy that had transformed the average construction worker named Xander into the mountain of muscle he now was dispersed leaving nothing but him as evidence that it had been there. It took a moment for him to fully adjust to the changes but once he did he looked himself over to personally inspect the changes that had been made to his body. For the most part he was very pleased since he now had a body that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger jealous and now was as tall as Michael Jordan. However there was one thing he just had to ask The Sorceress before he went to fight Skeletor and he knew he'd be unable to concentrate on kicking baddie ass until he had an answer to his question.

"Hey Sorceress? What the **HELL** is up with the furry underwear?"

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Note: So if this drabble/short gets enough votes who do you think I should pair Xander with? Teela or Evil-lyn?


	8. Another's Destiny Undertaken

"_Another's Destiny Undertaken"_

_Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends/BtVS_

_(Title tentative, Subject to Change, Suggestions Welcome)_

_Note: This will take place during Xander's Road Trip after the end of Season 3 in BtVS. In the Roswell Conspiracies timeline it will happen just before but leading into the first episode. Keep in mind though that is has been years since I've seen the series much less the episode so there will undoubtably be a few mistakes. If anyone can point out a site where I can download some episodes of the show or maybe might be willing to let me download them from their computer I would really appreciate it. Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends was one of my favourite shows when it was on TV and while I will be looking for the DVD at local stores it would really be a break of good luck if I could get the episodes sooner and for free (more or less)._

Colorado Springs, Colorado, Evening 

_Ah! Good old Colorado Springs!_ Xander thought as he strolled down the sidewalk of the great city, _Too bad there isn't really a Stargate Command underneath Cheyenne Mountain 'cause it'd be cool to bump into O'Neill or Tealc right now._

It had been one of the main reasons he had chosen Colorado for his post high school graduation road trip. Not that he was a geek or anything but aside from thinking that visiting cities used in TV shows would be fun he really had no plan laid out as to where to go. Sometimes when there was no specific city or state in mind he'd just spin himself around and where ever his finger pointed when he came to a stop would be the direction he'd drive in. His 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air convertible was holding up surprisingly well considering he had gotten in from his Uncle Rory and had only needed a little bit of maintenance every couple of hundred miles or so. While his Uncle was among the more respectable members of the Harris Clan he was by no means without his flaws. One of them unfortunately was the tendency to be a bit cheap when it came to maintaining the used cars in his lot. Oh they'd run long enough to impress the new owners during the test drive before the purchase and maybe last a month afterwards without trouble but eventually they'd either fall to pieces or require serious cash to keep going. So with this in mind he'd been a little suspicious of the car when he'd first gotten it but apparently being his nephew meant something to Uncle Rory because the convertible turned out to be in surprisingly good shape and had remained so ever since.

He had intended to drive around to all the local tourist attractions this evening but there must have been some kind of celebration or festival or something going on because when he looked out his hotel window he saw that the streets were clogged. It would take him all night just to get to half the places he wanted to go if he tried to drive there so he eventually decided to just walk there instead. He knew it was a bit risky since vampires and demons weren't confined to just the Hellmouth but he had the necessary tools with him so he figured he could deal with a few vamps if they decided to cause trouble. Also as long as he kept to well lit areas of the city as well as away from the darker spots the odds that he'd be attacked were minimal. After all while vamps might be hungry they were also smart enough not to draw too much attention to themselves by grabbing victims in full view of the public. They'd make sure to lure or take their prey to someplace secluded or away from the bustling crowds before letting their true nature be known. Personally he thought it was just as much the vamps playing with their food as it was not wanting a lot of witnesses given how cocky the undead generally were towards humans. In any case he had a small cross on a chain around his right wrist so if anyone approached him he could easily slip the cross between the two hands during a handshake. If the person showed signs of pain and his palm started to smoke then it was a vampire and he'd make sure to keep an eye on the dead person walkin'. If nothing happened he'd say that the cross was a gift from an ex-girlfriend and that it had the annoying habit of slipping out of his sleeve and into his hand from time to time. If he acted goofy enough and played upon how people generally behaved towards geeks and freaks he'd manage to get away without much trouble.

He spotted a nice looking club about two blocks away and was about to start making his way there when he heard a muffled female scream a helluva lot closer. Letting his instincts guide his actions he ran for all he was worth towards where he thought the scream had come from. Now he knew, logically, that the woman might not be in any trouble at all and could very well be screaming in pleasure or surprise or something perfectly harmless. However the Sunnyhell paranoia that had been a part of him since he'd lost Jesse to the darkness three years ago told him otherwise. It was a few twists and turns later before he found what he was looking for a for a moment he wished that he could exorcise the damn White Knight complex he seemed to have. Right there in front of him were no less than seven vampires that seemed to be dining off a couple near the back of the alleyway he had just turned down. Add to that the fact that their clothes were so obviously of the nineteen sixties and they weren't the 'vamps-is-so-stupid' newbies he was expecting. Still he knew that the couple on the ground didn't have a lot of time so he decided to go with the first half baked plan he could come up with. Reaching into his jacket pocket with his right hand and to the small of his back with his left he pulled out the two things he hoped would even the odds. Bringing his left hand up he revealed the Beretta he'd tucked in his belt and began to open fire on the vamps aiming for head-shots but willing to settle for anything of the upper body variety. He knew that the bullets wouldn't kill the nosfuratu but it would leave them dazed, disoriented and hopefully still for the next minute or so.

_Four out of seven isn't bad. _He thought as more than half of the bloodsuckers he had fired at went down and were barely showing signs of moving, _Now to deal with the remaining three!_

Charging to close the distance between the three remaining vampires and himself he kept his right hand in his jacket pocket until he was about two feet away and then flung the contents of the jar he had into the faces of the vamps. Like Queen C finding out she had a huge zit on her face two of the three vamps he'd hit started screaming as the holy water burned their skin like acid. For the One remaining vampire though he had managed to save himself from the majority of the blessed liquid by jumping back at the last second. Not what Key Guy wanted but still not entirely hopeless. Pulling a stake from the inside pocket of his jacket he prepared to go to work on the disoriented vampires when out of nowhere a strong hand clamped onto his shoulder and threw him into the nearest brick wall. Needless to say he was somewhat disappointed to find that neither stars nor tweety birds danced in front of his eyes but rather Twinkies with faces and hands with all of them laughing at him. Unfortunately he didn't have much time to curse whatever higher or lower being responsible for that because once his vision cleared a bit he had to quickly dodge to the side in order to avoid his brain being splattered by a vamp's oncoming fist. It only saved him for a moment though as with a quick glance around he found that the nosfuratu he'd shot earlier were beginning to get enough brain juice to stand upright again.

_Not GOOD!_ He thought as he tried to think up a new strategy that wouldn't involve getting put six feet under the hard way.

Taking out another bottle of holy water he had with him he dumped liberal amounts on a trashcan lid nearby and then like a Frisbee he flicked it at the rising vamps hoping to catch one or maybe even two with the shot. Surprisingly enough Lady Luck seemed to be in a generous mood this time of night because he actually managed to hit three in the head before the lid lost momentum and fell to the ground. Just like he planned though the water that was on the lid hit sensitive spots on the vamps' faces causing whatever coherency they might have regained to go back to square one. Ejecting the empty clip from his Beretta he fished a fresh one out of his pocket and was about to slap it in when he got tackled from behind. Slamming onto the cold alleyway floor with what had to be two hundred and twenty pounds on his back the wind exited his lungs leaving him temporarily weak as the proverbial kitten. He tried his hardest to knock the vampire off, to somehow get back on his feet where he had a chance of surviving, but even as oxygen began to return to his lungs he knew he was quickly running out of time. If he didn't somehow force this scenario back onto even ground he'd soon be dead and the vamps would have some desert ready for when the finished draining the couple.

_Knowing my luck they'll probably take two sips of me and say 'tastes like Twinkies'!_ Xander thought as he prepared to give one final all-or-nothing shove to dislodge his vamp piggy-back rider.

However before he could enact his plan of desperation the sound of quick footfalls approaching caught his ear and he looked up to see a guy in a brown duster jacket running towards him from the other end of the alley. He tried to get enough air into his lungs to tell the man to turn around, to save his own life, but before he could speak a single word the unknown hero dove forward and tackled the vampire that was holding him down. Suddenly free of any restrainers he got back to his feet and turned to see his saviour faring better than most humans would against the vamps. As quick as the vampires were this guy knew enough about fighting and apparently some martial arts to stay one step ahead of them. That would only last so long though since it would take more than a beating from even a skilled human to put a vamp down for good. Taking his second and last wooden stake from his pocket he charged in taking advantage of his rescuer's skill and staking a vamp from behind after it took a stunning blow to the jaw.

"What the--?" the man asked in confusion as the vampire turned to dust right in front of him.

"Fight now, explanations later!" Xander said firmly as he ducked a punch from another vamp, slammed the cross chained to his wrist into its forehead and then rammed the stake into the undead being's heart.

For the next few moments it was absolute bedlam as he and his twenty something looking partner teamed up to take on the five remaining vampires. Staying back-to-back and taking advantage of almost every opening the other provided. Thankfully his duster-wearing **friend** found the stake that he'd dropped earlier due to his forced introduction to the brick wall and was putting it to good use. Ten minutes later the vamps that were once five were now two and with one-on-one odds he knew that the two of them would make it out of this situation alive. That was when Fate decided to change that rosy picture when the vampire that his green eyed friend was fighting landed a blow that sent the man flying into a pile of trash someone put out back. Quickly dusting his own vamp Xander charged at the other vampire's back and slammed the stake into the unbeating heart within dusting it completely. As he took a moment to catch his breath he wondered why the last vamp had stayed fixed on the man in the duster jacket instead of aiding its pal and double-teaming him. It was when he looked up at his brave new hero that he got his answer in the form of a growing stain of red on the man's shirt.

"Shit!" he exclaimed as he raced to the guy's side and began checking for a pulse, "Come on buddy stay with me now! Don't you dare waltz off to the pearly gates without so much as a goodbye!"

Unfortunately no matter where he looked, whether it was the wrist or the throat, there was no pulse at all. He must have been impaled from behind the second he hit the pile of trash and been killed instantly. It would also explain why the vampire had ignored him and fixated on someone who looked to be out of the fight for the moment. The vamps had been out for their first meal of the night and while some of their thirst might have been dealt with by feeding on the couple it had still be strong enough to get the last vamp to ignore him in favour of easier prey. Not that those facts mattered at the moment because whatever the circumstances had been this man was dead now because he had come to one former Zeppo's aide.

The vampires might be dead but this man and the couple he'd originally come to save were dead as well.

This was no victory.

"Maybe not kid but it doesn't have to be a total loss." Came a solemn voice with a distinctly Brooklyn accent.

Turning to the voice he was surprised to find a loudly dressed pimp standing not fifteen feet from him with his hands in his pockets. No name he could recalled matched this stranger's face but at the same time he knew it'd be a smart thing to listen to whatever this mystery man had to say.

"Smart decision. You know you really are a wild card Harris." The man said as he looked about and took in all the blood, death and ashes strewn about the alley, "Out of all the possible outcomes this situation had the higher ups didn't know this was going to happen until it was too late to do anything about it. Needless to say kid you sure made a mess of my bosses plans for this guy."

"Who the **hell** are you!" Xander asked with no little bit of anger towards the unknown man that was, in his mind, disrespecting the dead by treating their passing so lightly.

"Name's Whistler. I'm a messenger of sorts." Whistler replied as he let his eyes pass over the scene in front of him, "I'm here to make you a rather unique proposal Harris. One that'd help make up for the mess you've made."

"Me? I didn't do anything but try to help this couple. This guy came in on his own to help me out. How is this **my** mess?" he asked as he tried to get a grip on what might be coming his way in a few moments.

"It's true you didn't force Nicky-boy here to come down here but you were the reason he came and therefore are partially responsible for him being dead." Whistler replied as he returned his gaze to Xander, "With Logan dead a lot of things that would've happened if he'd been alive are now in danger of either never coming to pass or being distorted horribly. One such distortion would be the fact that unless something is done this entire planet is going to get blown up."

"What?" Xander exclaimed as he tried to imagine how the absence of one guy could result in the destruction of the Earth.

Whistler however seemed to be listening to some voice audible only to him and given the grimace's on the guy's face it was not a pleasant conversation.

"Okay! O-kay! Sheesh! Look kid here's the deal: due to you deciding to play hero a human who was a couple days away from startin' down the path to his destiny was killed. Now things are all outta whack but you have the ability to fix things." Whistler explained as he tried to get the ring inducing silent tongue lashing out of his head, "Basically you'd be taking his place and doing the things he'd have done if he were still alive. I'd call you on his cell phone every once and awhile to nudge you in the right direction if you stray too far from the preferred path. It won't be a cake walk but it's still better than the alternative."

Xander wasn't entirely thrilled by this so called proposal but he had to admit that he was at least partially responsible for Nick Logan's death. If it hadn't been for his botched rescue attempt of the couple the man probably would still be alive to do whatever it was he was supposed to do. Still there was one detail he had to hammer out with this Whistler guy before he'd even consider doing anything.

"What about Buffy and the gang back in Sunnydale? What if they need me?" He asked as he needed to know if he'd be able to go back and help them during Armageddon season.

"Not likely kid. You saw how they were slowly pushing you outta the loop in the months leading up to graduation." Whistler said with the certainty that what he was saying was true, "Sure they invited you back for that whole graduation bomb thing but let's face it kid it was a one time thing. In the end you gotta ask yourself: do I wanna be a sidekick the rest of my life or become a player all my own?"

Much as he hated to admit that the pimp might have a point there it was in big neon lights. Aside from rigging the school to blow and maybe organizing the graduating class a little into an organized force rather than a rabble of teenagers he really hadn't been that involved in the slayage back home. Plus he'd kind of been dreading going back to Sunnyhell what with Buffy and Willow going on to University while he'd still be stuck in his parents' basement. Not exactly the most morale boosting of predicaments he had to say. Still he couldn't just leave the gang so it was time to toss his own proposal into the works.

"Okay I'll do it but on **ONE** condition and this is non-negotiable: you and you're bosses monitor the gang in a way that makes the idea of 'Big Brother' surveillance look like amateur hour. The absolute **minute** you hear about something going down that the gang could use a hand with you call me **immediately**. You tell me **everything** about the situation and find a way to get me there without blowing my cover. Understand?" he asked looking at the pimp dressed messenger in a way that made it clear he wouldn't back down from this position.

Whistler seemed to be listening to his silent friend again but this time seemed to be a little more comfortable with what was being said.

"You drive a hard bargain kid. Deal." Whistler said sounding impressed both by the kid's loyalty to his friends and by the reaction to the demand by his bosses.

"Good. So now what?" Xander asked as he tried to figure out how things were going to play out from here.

"Now **THIS!**" Whistler replied and without any warning bolts of energy leapt from each of the pimp's hands but went in two different directions.

One bolt flew through the air and struck the dead body of one Nick Logan while the other hit Xander right in the chest. Most would expect a flashy lightshow at this point, maybe something similar to the end of a duel in 'Highlander', but disappointingly it didn't. All that happened was Xander's face twisting up in pain, a bright flash of light that lit up the alley from one end to another and then everything went back to normal. Well as normal as a teenage guy suddenly looking identical to the dead guy on the ground a few feet away. It took a few moments for the formerly teenage Xander to get everything working right in his head but when everything was in the green he didn't bother to restrain the anger that had been produced by the pain.

"What the **HELL** was… that… ?" Xander began to ask before he noticed that it may have been his words but the voice was definitely not his, "Huh?"

"Well you can't exactly step in for Nick Logan if you don't look and sound the part right?" Whistler asked rhetorically with some amusement, "Don't worry though, you'll be able to shapeshift back and forth, it's just something you'll need to get used to. Anyway aside from the physical changes you should also now have a complete copy of Nick's memories from childhood to the present. Fortunately though we ain't gonna dump them all on you at once but rather bit by bit over the next couple days. It'll make the integration process easier on you."

Definitely a plus because if memory dumps are anything like they are in the movies then I definitely don't want to have to deal with the 'everything-immediately' package.

"Don't worry about the bodies or yer car." Whistler said as he faded out of sight, "I'll take care of 'em both by giving a proper burial to the first and putting the latter into storage."

"Wha--? HEY!" Xander exclaimed comprehending what the messenger was talking about.

It was too late though because now there was nothing in the alley to even show that the pimp had ever been there in the first place except for an angry and frustrated looking live Nick Logan aka Xander Harris. Knowing that nothing could be served by making a commotion about his situation he headed for the mouth of the alley intending to try and find where this Logan was staying. He got about a block away before the sound of a cell phone ringing came from within his duster pocket. Then almost as a reflex of sorts he reached in with his right hand, flipped open the phone and put it next to his ear.

"Talk to me Cracker." He said without even thinking about it.

_Woah! Auto-pilot! This should make things easier._ Xander thought as he tried to keep himself casual and calm.

"So what was it? You hung up on me so fast I got a little worried." Came the Texan accent from the other end of the connection.

_He must be referring to the fight in the alley._ Xander thought before replying, "Just a couple of street punks ganging up on some kid. Nothing to worry about."

"I'll bet. Well as I was saying before you cut me off I got your next bounty for you. Big bucks if you can find the guy." Cracker said with a slight chuckle before getting down to business, "Name's Lucien Thrope, broke out of Long Pock about two weeks ago and took out seven guards in the process. Doc's say they'll be okay in a couple of weeks but two of 'em might have to retire if some of their injuries don't heal right."

_So Nick's a bounty hunter eh? Sounds like an interesting job but also potentially painful if the guys Logan goes after are capable of taking down seven people._ He thought before getting down to business himself and asking, "Any clue as to where he might go to ground?"

"Texas'd be my bet. Thrope's rarely been outta that state since he first started his B&E career." Cracker replied with the sound of clicking computer keys in the background, "He'll probably head to Austin, San Antonio or Houston trying to lose himself in the crowd."

"Then I guess I'm headed to the Lone Star state." Xander aka Nick said as he finally set eyes on Nick's car and caught himself before whistling appreciatively, "I'll call you when I get to Austin."

"See ya then." Cracker said before hanging up.

_Ya know I think I just might like being Nick Logan._ Xander thought to himself as he took in the blue and black masterpiece of automotive engineering.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

San Antonio, A Few Days Later, Early Afternoon 

It had been a busy couple of days and despite some initial weird spells where Nick Logan's memories would click into place or one of his mannerisms would pop up. Once he got over the insane kookiness of the situation he actually found it kind of cool that he now knew the things he knew and could do the things he could. Add to that the wicked car and he was willing to roll with the new cause that asshole Whistler had stuck him with. With any bit of luck he'd be able to solve most of Logan's immediate destiny deals sooner rather than later and be able to head back to Sunnydale to at least see his friends once more before committing more fully to living a second life. He knew that the chances of being able to perform all of Nick Logan's destiny duties in a few months were next to nil but he was hoping that he'd at least be able to see Willow and the others long enough to set up some kind of secondary form of communication. Something like an email address that only they would know about or maybe a set of wicca-ed up cell phones that not even the best intelligence agencies on the planet could eavesdrop on. Looking down at the empty Styrofoam tray at his feet that looked like it had been used with raw meat and his ringing cell phone it was something he'd have to shelve for the time being.

"Logan here." He said after flipping open his phone and put it to his ear, "Yeah Cracker I'm on it."

Reaching down for a moment to pick up the empty and quite frankly disgusting Styrofoam tray he looked it over to see if there was an address on it or at least the name of the company that made it. If it did then a little creative snooping by Cracker would let him know where it had been before entering Thrope's hands and give him a few alternative locations in case the one he had now didn't pan out.

"Look's like Thrope hasn't lost his taste for steak tartar." He commented after confirming both what had been placed on the tray and whether or not an address was on it.

"Sucker eats raw meat Logan. Strong too considering the seven guards he took out breaking out of prison." Cracker said with extra weight to convey that this Lucien guy wasn't to be taken lightly.

"Reason enough to keep the local authorities out of this. No sense putting them at risk when I can handle Thrope myself." He said with a genuine desire not to get the local P.D involved if he could avoid it.

"So you know where he is?" Cracker asked obviously not liking the laid back way Logan a.k.a Xander was taking the situation.

"If he stinks as much as I've heard finding him won't be a problem." He replied as he watched one of the flies that had been buzzing around the empty tray separate from its feeding party and head towards a half open window above him, "Tell the people that hired us to get my check ready."

With that he slapped shut the cell phone and exited the alley before heading to the front entrance of the building the fly had been interested in. It turned out to be the apartment building he'd received his most recent lead in regarding Thrope and thanks to the insect he now had an idea of which room the creep was in.

_Time to do my thing!_ He thought as he began to flick through Nick's rolo-dex of ways to get the drop on your chosen bounty.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Unmarked Van Two Blocks Away, Same Time 

"I **like** him." Said the female brunette with an Egyptian accent as she watched the video feed from several of their hidden cameras.

She along with three others had been tapped for the pop quiz that was being given to a possible new recruit for their organization. From what she had seen so far he definitely had the potential but the real test would come when Logan got his first real taste of what the world was really like.

"Big surprise! He's male." Said her blonde former C.I.A partner with his usual sense of humour and smug tone of voice.

"Shut **up!**" he said haughtily as she wondered for the hundredth time what she had done to deserve a partner like him.

"Quiet. This was the easy part." The Boss said sternly with his eyes never leaving the view screen.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Apartment Building, Second Floor, Outside Apartment 2B 

_This should do the trick._ Xander thought as he finished sticking the tennis ball to the hallway ceiling right outside the door to Lucien's room.

It was a real MacGyver way of doing things but he agreed with his Logan memories that it would give him just enough time to circle around outside and set himself up for a surprise entrance through the window. Once satisfied that the ball wouldn't drop before he wanted it to he turned and ran quickly to the stairs that led to the roof intent on getting there in plenty of time. With the seconds ticking away he yanked down the cord someone was using for a makeshift clothesline and tied one end to a thick pipe sticking up out of the rooftop. Getting a firm grip on the cord himself he soon heard the sound of Thrope reacting rather aggressively to his little distraction and that was exactly how this scenario was supposed to go. Jogging quickly he leapt over the edge of the roof before letting gravity do the rest guiding him right through the chosen window and into the back of his target. He winced slightly when the guy wound up taking a header into the TV set but any thoughts of sympathy went flying out the window when a new level of weird kicked in.

_What the HELL?_ He thought as he watched a ghost-like image of something big and hairy super impose itself on Thrope.

It looked like some kind of werewolf with cybernetic implants or maybe some kind of armour protecting certain parts of its body. He didn't have time for a more thorough look though since Lucien then decided that he'd share some of the head trauma he was feeling by throwing the broken television at his attacker. When that failed things went close quarters with Thrope looking to inflict bodily harm the old fashioned way. Fortunately though the combination of Nick's karate knowledge and his own experience in dealing with things faster and stronger than him made dodging easy. That wasn't to say that dealing with the perp was easy because while the escaped con might not have been very fast he definitely had the edge in brute strength.

_Have to end this quickly because one lucky shot is all its going to take to have this end badly._ He thought as he grabbed the larger man by the arm and slam him face first into the wall of the apartment.

When the struggling continued he added a couple of solid elbows to the back of the head which when coupled with the shoddy construction of the place sent Thrope's head right through the wall. That sadly was when some higher power concluded that he was having it way to easy and decided to let Thrope shape shift without the benefit of a full moon.

"What's going on here!" he exclaimed as the convict's strength almost tripled in a matter of seconds.

A fist was his only reply as Lucien batted him away like so many vamps had beforehand when they considered him nothing more than an annoyance.

_Talk about the bad hair day from HELLO!_ He thought as Thrope gained a full foot in height and took on the form of the cyber werewolf image he'd seen earlier.

"Surprise bounty hunter!" Thrope said in a growly voice that went perfectly with his new lupine appearance, "Never learned to fight something like this did ya? Raarrrgh!"

With that the transformed werewold lunged at him and once again he had reason to thank Nick Logan's instincts, memories and mannerisms since his arms started moving before his mind could really think of anything. Grabbing a nearby lamp pole he thrust the top end right into the attacking were's mouth thus keeping those sharp teeth occupied with something other than him.

"You'd be surprised what I was taught how to fight!" he said defiantly while making sure to keep the top of the lamp in the cyber-wolf's mouth.

Then to prove just how much of an idiot he was Thrope chomped down on the lamp top causing the electricity that had once been contained in the light bulb to course through him. A few seconds later Lucien keeled over completely dazed and disoriented which gave him the opportunity he needed to more effectively neutralize the main threat by wrapping the recently torn power cord from the lamp around the wolf's snout. He grabbed a few cords from some of the other appliances and electronics as well to bind the guy's arms and wrists. Once satisfied that there wouldn't be any more trouble he yanked the guy-wolf to his feet and threw a bed sheet over him.

"Now that you've had your fun howsabout you change back into your human form so we can walk out of here nice and peaceful-like. Whataya say?" he said saying with his eyes that another thrashing would be in Lucien's future if he said no.

Grumbling what were likely threats of payback and general frustration at being taken down by a lowly human Thrope complied. Three minutes later they were exiting the apartment building only to find what looked like a Texas Ranger truck pulling up to the curb.

"Admirable work Mr. Logan. I'm Jefferson Trueblood from fugitive collection and transport." Said the Native American man from the passenger side window, "We'll take it from here."

The man got of the truck and after the sound of the truck's back door sliding up ended two more people walked up to him to take possession of Thrope. The first was an attractive brunette woman with tanned skin while the second was a tall muscularly built man with blonde hair. Both wore the same uniform as Trueblood but there was something about the way they carried themselves that failed to meet his estimation of how law enforcement officials should move. Then another nagging detail hit him when he recalled that he hadn't yet put in the call that Lucien had been caught and he knew that Cracker wouldn't have made the call without talking to him first.

_Better ask them about it._ He thought before asking, "How did you guys know where I was? I don't remember calling anyone."

For a moment all three of them looked uneasy before the blond one seemed to have a moment of inspiration.

"Oh we monitor all cell phone communications." The blonde man replied slowly easing into believability.

"Yeah, exactly!" the attractive brunette said quickly in support of her partner's explanation.

_These guys are definitely not what they appear to be._ He thought as he began to formulate a few more questions he'd like to ask them.

"If you'll come with me we'll get your details for the reward." Trueblood said before any other conspicuous questions could be asked.

For a moment he thought about being stubborn about asking questions but decided that there wouldn't be much point to it since all three of the 'officers' had their guard up now.

"Yeah. Sure." He said as he followed the man as he led Thrope to the back of the truck, "You better watch Thrope though 'cause I think he has a bit of a split personality."

Once Lucien was secured in the back of the truck he began to rattle off the info about Logan's bank account and how the money should be deposited. A few moments after that was done the Bonnie and Clyde part of the mysterious trio popped up looking pretty satisfied with the day's work.

"Any **detail** work?" Trueblood asked them sounding casual.

"Taken care of." Blonde Guy replied acting like it had been a piece of cake.

"Yeah! Bring your shovels!" Attractive Gal stated as though there was some hidden joke in her comment.

Definitely something of the weird going on here. He thought as he followed Trueblood to the driver's side door and asked "You know this guy is unusual right? Like really not of the normal?"

"Mr. Logan I have no idea what you're talking about." Trueblood replied as if he didn't have the foggiest idea what the bounty hunter was referring to at all.

That **settles it!** He thought as he watched the truck drive off.

Without missing a beat he headed for the nearest fire escape and began to climb with all the speed he could muster. If these guys really weren't on the level then he bet they'd be losing their easily recognizable wheels soon or at least do something to make it blend in more. Once on the roof he immediately began to jump from rooftop to rooftop to keep up with the van but eventually he reached a point where he could go no further. Thankfully that was when Trueblood and his friends decided to show their true colours though what he saw wasn't quite what he'd been expecting. Right before his eyes the van pulled a Transformers on him and changed from your garden-variety moving van sized vehicle to some kind of high tech aircraft. Flying off at a fast clip there was no doubt now in Xander's mind that he had once again stumbled onto something that was going to change his view of the world permanently.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&(&&&&&&&&&&

The Open Highway, Headed Towards New Mexico, Two Days Later 

"Logan." He said answering his ringing cell phone as he drove down the highway.

"So did ya get that package I sent?" Cracker asked from the other side of the connection.

"Yeah Cracker I did." He replied as he looked over at the print outs and the photo taped to the dashboard, "So tell me, the people who sent you this picture, are they the same ones who sent me after Thrope?"

Seeing how the eyes of the white-haired young woman in the picture suddenly seemed to glow pink for a moment he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"How'd you know that?" Cracker asked surprised at the accuracy of Logan's guess.

"Just a hunch." Replied Xander as the glow finally faded from the eyes of the photo.

"Her name is Shelainn. Major extradition warrant. Big money if you can find her." Cracker said as he summarized the details.

"Oh I'll find her." He said pulling into the Roseburg Rest Home just off the highway, "But first I need some long overdue answers."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Mountaintop, Beside a Railway Heading to Roswell, Late Evening, Two Days Later 

_First demons and now aliens._ He thought as he stood at the edge of the mountain he was on waiting for the training he was expecting to arrive, _I'm beginning to think that everything I've heard is real._

It had been quite a tale when he had stopped by the rest home to visit Nick's dad Walter to confront him about the weird training sessions he had given Logan when he was a kid. Truth be told he still wasn't quite sure what to make of all that but he knew enough that he wanted some answers so here he was waiting to catch the one person who might be willing to give him some straight answers. Shelainn Blaize of the Banshee alien clan who was apparently **a lot** older than she looked in the photo but at the same time considered young and idealistic among her people. Walter figured she'd be looking for answers of some kind. Answers only Trueblood and some organization called the Alliance could give her down in Roswell, New Mexico. He trusted the man since Nick's memories of him were such that the man was trustworthy and honourable but just to make sure he had Cracker check a few things. After some basic deductive reasoning and consulting Logan's knowledge of fugitives the destination of Roswell was confirmed. So here he was in the middle of nowhere on a mountaintop about to try the most hair-brained stunt he'd ever thought of and that was saying something indeed.

Hearing the train approaching he looked down and thought _I must be completely out of my mind!_

Not that it stopped him from getting a running start and diving off the edge of the mountain though but thankfully there was some reason to Nick Logan's madness. Once he was clear of the mountain and was at the right altitude he pulled the ripcord on the parachute he had strapped to his back deploying it. Unfortunately a parachute was a tad unequipped for dodging energy blasts of some kind as two sets of blue and pink energy beams flew at him from the direction of the engine at the front of the train. He did his best to dodge the attacks but maneuverability was **NOT** a parachute's strong point and eventually whoever was attacking him scored a hit setting the chute on fire.

_Gotta get down to the ground and quick or I'm going to get turned into a messy stain on the desert floor!_ He thought as he tried to aim the parachute for the roof of one of the boxcars and descend as quickly as well as safely as possible.

It was when he got to the last twenty or so feet though that he noticed his target, Shelainn Blaize, on the roof running in his general direction making a collision an almost certainty. He tried his best to either hasten his descent in order to land in front of her or to get some altitude to glide over her but with a rapidly burning up parachute neither was an option. So it was that the first meeting between Shelainn Blaize and Nick Logan aka Xander Harris was such that it made a sizeable impression on both of them as the collision sent both of them through the roof of the boxcar into its interior. A few moments later he managed to pull himself together and found that he was lying in a rather awkward position **on top** of the Banshee who was still a bit out of it.

Fortunately her disoriented state didn't last

Unfortunately for him though since she rather roughly pushed him off of herself.

"Get **off!**" she yelled angrily before getting to her feet.

It was then though that they both got a fairly good look at one another and both gasped in surprise though for entirely different reasons. For him it was a gasp of awe as he took a look at her in the flesh rather than a glance at a photo and he had to say she had a beauty that put Buffy, Cordy and Faith to shame. He didn't even mind that she wasn't human since he knew his past dating track record was hardly clean of such variables but he did his best to reign in his feelings and clear his face of them.

"Logan? Walter Logan?" she asked almost in disbelief of what her eyes were telling her.

"My father. My name's Nick but we don't really look alike." He said putting on his best 'Nick Logan attitude' since he had a feeling she would be an important person to convince that he was who he appeared to be.

"You're his son." She said with her distinctly Scottish accent as though the answer he'd given her made some kind of weird sense to her.

"Does that mean something to you?" he asked wanting to make sure he had the facts of the relationship between Shelainn and Walter Logan right.

"Yer father came to us. He wanted peace between the humans and the Banshee but Queen Mab wouldn't listen." She replied with a serious tone as she remembered the meeting in the past.

"So why're you here?" he asked beginning to get a clearer picture of the reality of things.

"I wanted to defy Queen Mab, make peace with the humans, Mab condemned me a traitor." She replied with passion and conviction, "Now the Banshee want me destroyed."

He had to admit that the story seemed plausible but given how his first introduction into the new world of alien clans he decided to stand at the side of caution. Putting a hand on her shoulder he tried to turn her around, to make it clear he wanted some straight answers, but she shrugged him off like he was a fly. Deciding to take this as a hostile act he charged her intent on grabbing her hands and keeping them aimed away from him since he bet any attacks would come from there. His hunch was right since halfway to where she stood she fired an energy blast similar to the ones that had turned his parachute into Swiss cheese. Fortunately though his speed and agility was enough to dodge the attacks allowing him to get to her hands and pin them behind her back.

"I could burn yer hands off ye know." She said calmly as though she had the entire situation under control.

"Try it and you'll set your clothes on fire." He said back just as calmly since he'd already worked out that angle, "Call me crazy but you don't look like you'd enjoy spending the next few hours bare bottom in the breeze."

"Do other girls fall for yer lines?" Shelainn asked with some amusement in her voice.

"I gotta admit it's the first time I've used that one." He replied somewhat sheepishly as he realized that what he'd said could be interpreted as a pick up line, "How's it working?"

"It hardly matters." She replied in a disappointed voice, "You've heard of the Banshee legend?"

"You mean the part where you know when people are gonna die?" he asked answering her question with a question.

"Um-hum. Ye've got thirty five seconds." She replied as her eyes took on a spooky pink glow and her hair looked like it had a life of its own.

"Oh boy." He muttered to himself as he tried to think fast and take every variable he could think of into consideration.

_Alright. She said we have thirty five seconds and since that isn't near enough time to reach a train station it must mean that staying on the train is what's going to kill us._ He thought through the facts hoping to come up with a solution, _That means we have to get off the train fast or risk getting involved in an explosion or derailment or something._

Looking around he quickly spotted the motorcycles parked off to the side of the car and wasted no time grabbing one by the handlebars and yanking it free of its confining packaging. Aiming it at the open boxcar door he hopped on and pulled out a set of lock picks Nick carried in case he need to get into someplace without an invitation. Working like clockwork he worked the picks in the bike's ignition and Lady Luck smiles at him as the motorcycle almost immediately came to life.

_And not a moment too soon from the looks of it._ He thought as he felt explosions and the flames they produced getting closer and closer, _Looks like someone doesn't want this train or its illegal passengers to survive._

"Get on!" he ordered as he tossed her one of the two helmets the bike had before slipping on one of his own.

Shelainn quickly did as she was told and with the gunning of the engine the bike flew out of the door of the boxcar. Landing with a thump thankfully cushioned for the most part by the bikes shocks and once they were well clear of the train tracks he brought the motorcycle around before coming to a complete stop. Raising the visor of the helmet he looked down at his/Nick's watch to find that he had managed to beat Shelainn's prediction by a whole second.

"Thirty four seconds." He said as he started to relax a bit, "Beat it by one."

"Ye were lucky this time." She said wagging a finger in his face.

Hearing the hum of aircraft engines he and Shelainn looked up to see one of the Alliance's aircraft rise into the air before shooting off in the direction of Roswell.

"Looks like the Alliance plays rough." He commented since it didn't take a genius to figure out they were behind the destruction of the train and all its cars.

"So do the Banshee." She stated pointing out their other obvious enemy.

"Your warning saved my life." He said with the gratitude clear in his voice.

"An' you just saved mine." She said implying that any debt he owed her had already been paid.

Extending a hand in friendship Xander had a feeling that they'd last longer together than they would on their own.

"Looks like we've got the same problems." She said recognising the gesture for what it was.

"We got the Alliance and the Banshee after us, a pile of unanswered questions, a hot motorcycle, it's night and we're wearing dark visors." He said leaving it to her to say what they both knew they had to do next.

"Let's go!" she said as she brought the visor down in front of her face and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Their decision made and their course set he poured on the gas and zoomed up onto the nearby highway heading straight for Roswell. As the sun rose and bathed the landscape in the light of a new day Xander knew that his life was never going to be like it once was but for the first time he was actually looking forward to it.

It of course had nothing to do with being a teensy bit smitten with the snowy haired Banshee that had her arms wrapped around him.

Nope.

Not one bit.


	9. Dueling for Dummies

"_Dueling for Dummies"_

_Yu-Gi-Oh!/BtVS crossover_

_Note: This takes place after the situation with Dartz but before that duelling Grand Prix thing (mostly because I never saw any of it and don't want to screw up). In BtVS this starts just before the episode involving the Incan Mummy Girl thing. Also if this drabble/short does wind up getting a lot of votes, enough to convince me to make it into a full fledged fanfic then I will require a beta reader that is not only familiar with the Anime series but also is knowledgeable enough about how the game is played (both the real card game and how it is played on the TV show) to help me out._

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A 747 Flying Over the Pacific Ocean Towards Japan, Mid-Day 

I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY ACTUALLY DID **IT!** Xander yelled mentally as he sat in his seat aboard the airplane looking to the average passer by like sulking child.

In truth though he was more annoyed and angry then technically sulking because the one time his parents decided to do something that might be considered appropriate for loving and encouraging parents they had to choose something that took him from his friends. It had all begun about a week ago when Herr Snyder made the announcement over the personal address system in the school that it was time again for the student exchange program to begin and that all students were encouraged to get involved. Actually he made it sound like he wanted a vacation from as many of the 'juvenile delinquents' as possible and maybe have some respectable students around for a change. At the time he wasn't all that worried because he believed that there was no way that his parents would welcome a perfect stranger into the house or even be interested in anything school related. However no more than two days after the announcement had been made at school his parents told him to start packing his bags because in five days he'd be going overseas as part of the student exchange program. At first he'd ignored their statement figuring it was nothing more than some drunken nonsense that would be gone from their heads after two hours of heavy drinking.

_Of course it **HAD** to turn out to be the one time they actually told the truth! _He grumbled mentally as he recalled getting socked in the jaw the next day for not even starting to pack.

Naturally he had gone running to the gang so that they could try and find a way out of his current predicament but surprisingly they actually seemed to be in favour of it. Oh both Willow and Buffy were going to miss him but Giles pointed out it would only be for two weeks and that visiting another country, on the school's dollar, could be quite enjoyable. Both girls agreed with Willow only laying down the stipulation that he had to contact her once a day at least via email before she'd agree to let him go. Never mind that he was not quite passing his computer class with Miss Calendar so the chances of him figuring out **how** to send his bestest bud an email was iffy at best. So all in all he had not been a happy camper at that point so he decided to see if he could plead or beg his way out via the one person with the power to slam the brakes on his leaving.

_Should have known that troll would be loving the idea of me being elsewhere!_ He thought as he remembered Snyder's oh so joyful expression when the problem was laid out for him.

In the end he was forced to go along with the exchange thing or be forced to spend time in detention until he graduated or as Snyder had put it 'when he **attempted** to graduate'. So stuck between the forces of evil (his parents and Snyder) and his **encouraging** friends (you shouldn't have! Really!) he resigned himself to his fate and began packing what he thought he'd need for the two weeks he'd be gone. Five days later a fancy looking car had pulled up to the curb in front of the house and two goons in suits had gotten out. After exchanging a few brief words in Japanese (Tony could **speak** and **understand** Japanese!?!?!?!) the goons had spoken in rough English ordering him to get his things and get into the car. Too floored by hearing his father speak anything other than bad English he'd done as he was told and was quickly whisked away to the airport. Then came the next surprise in that that he somehow managed to get a **FIRST CLASS SEAT** on the plane while the flunkies had to settle for coach. It had been a mixed experience since then with the pros being a comfy seat, good food and hottie stewardesses left and right. The cons being… well… the fact that he **did not** want to be here and **did not** sign up for this were definitely cons and as such were impairing his ability to enjoy his visit to the rich persons' area.

"Is there anything I can do for you Mr. Harris?" came the voice of a particularly beautiful stewardess that he was sure had unofficially made herself his personal stewardess and made sure her co-workers knew this.

Considering she was a definite knockout and looked to be no more than a couple of months out of high school he would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted to ask if she'd like to go for a cuppa coffee when they landed. However since he figured he wouldn't be able to get away from good 1 and goon 2 anytime soon he restrained that impulse and just asked her for a refill for his glass of Pepsi. With a 'right away Mr. Harris' she turned and began walking down the aisle to where the food was and definitely had an unprofessional swaying of her hips going on no doubt for his viewing pleasure.

_Like a wise man once said: I hate seeing her go but I **love** watching her leave. _He thought to himself as he enjoyed what he was seeing.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Domino City Airport, Domino City, Mid-Afternoon (Local Time)**_

_Who in their right mind names a city after a rectangular block with red and white dots on it?_ He thought to himself for the third time since the head stewardess announced over the plane's P.A system that they'd be landing in Domino City shortly.

Then again people probably thought the same thing about naming a town 'Sunnydale' but at least his hometown wasn't named after a game piece. Following the two thugs they guided him to an expensive looking limo that had a vaguely familiar **'KC'** logo on the back doors. He knew he'd seen it before but for the life of him he couldn't figure out where and it was causing a distinct itch to his brain. Getting in he was distinctly annoyed to find that the two morons had taken up bookend positions on either side of him and given their considerable muscle mass and bulk he was definitely not comfortable. So rather than dwell on the fact that he was being sandwiched by two guys who could probably double as boulders both physically and mentally he decided to try and figure out what was going on and who he was being so **gracefully** delivered to like this.

The first clue were the goons and the fact that they had personally come to escort him to the family he'd be staying with for the next two weeks. Now while he might never have paid anything more than a vague amount of attention to the details of the student exchange program in the past he was fairly certain that this was **not** the standard M.O for every student. That meant that whomever he was going to get stuck with had done this on his or her own authority rather than it being the actions of the school boards of either country. Next came the first class seat and the limo he was sitting in both of which did not come cheap which meant his new **friend** was likely well off financially. Maybe not in the top ten of Japan's wealthiest families but definitely a player in the corporate game given the logo on the limo and what that implied. This could be either good thing or a bad thing depending on what type of rich person his new landlord turned out to be. On the one had they could be a kind fifty-something C.E.O who'll make him feel welcome and do their best to make his stay in Japan both enjoyable and educational. On the other they could be penny-pinching scrooges who only signed up for the student exchange program for the potential public relations benefits and would be sure he did nothing to ruin this.

_Knowing my luck I'll probably wind up with the latter knowing my famiy's history of bad luck!_ He thought with distaste as he mentally began to prepare himself for the most horrible 'pain-in-the-ass' two weeks ever.

About thirty minutes later they pulled up to the front gates of what had to be one of the most impressive mansions he had ever seen. Not that he'd seen many mansions having never left Sunnydale but there were enough fancy houses back home that he'd managed to get a taste of what they looked like. In any case the mansion in front of him was definitely 'whoa' worthy making him believe that whatever the disposition of the person he'd be living with for the next two weeks it'd definitely be something to tell the gang about back home. Once they'd been buzzed in and pulled up to the front entrance one of the thugs got his suitcases from the trunk and together they entered the building to meet with the owner. Didn't have to travel far though because there at the top of the twin staircases looking down at him like a king of a castle was certainly the owner.

Problem was the owner didn't look much older than he was which surprised him.

"So your Alexander Harris?" asked the young man rhetorically in a manner implying great disappointment, "I guessed I shouldn't have expected much consider you're Anthony's son. While you live here though I hope you'll at least try to act like a civilized person otherwise the deals off. So follow Vincent and he'll show you to your room."

"Sure thing. Just one question before I go." He said before waiting to see if the young man who acted just as bad as Cordelia, only with a refined vocabulary, would let him ask his question.

"And that would be?" the young man asked impatiently.

"Um… just who the hell are you?" he asked honestly because he did not have a clue who he was talking to.

"Anthony didn't tell you? Typical." The young man said sounding like he had an opinion of Tony Harris similar to Xander's, "My name is Seto Kaiba and I am the C.E.O of the Kaiba Corporation."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Four Days Later, Kaiba Mansion, Xander's Room 

_Four days into my stay and already I want to kick Seto's ass on general principle._ Xander thought as he sat at his desk and continued to do his thankfully little bit of homework.

It had been the first thing he'd told upon showing up for breakfast the next morning. While it was true that he was technically here to experience Japanese culture and to basically be led around the town by Kaiba the snotty C.E.O apparently considered such duties beneath him and dumped him on the local high school. He wasn't totally alone as he had Seto's little brother Mokuba to help him survive the rough patches but still the elder Kaiba's 'high and mighty' routine was wearing away at his last nerve. Over the course of the four days at the local high school he'd been introduced to four of Mokuba's friends but had been asked by the younger Kaiba brother to not tell Seto. Apparently Yugi Moto, Joey Wheeler, Téa Gardner and Tristan Taylor were kinda the enemy as far as the C.E.O of Kaiba Corp was concerned and the prick would likely get angry that Mokuba was associating with them. After making the promise not to say a word everything went pretty smoothly and he was even introduced to the hottest game in Japan called Duel Monsters. Apparently this game was the reason for the feud of sorts between the Yugi Crew and Seto Kaiba since the elder Kaiba had once been the undisputed champ only to be displaced Yugi who had never duelled professionally before that match. Given the superiority complex the guy wore around his neck like an expensive silk tie it probably had been quite the blow to the over inflated ego.

_Still not quite sure of all the rules of the game but it looked pretty cool when Joey and Yugi played against each other at lunch yesterday._ He thought as he closed his textbook and decided to head down to the kitchen for a quick snack.

Walking down the hallway he tried his best to recall the way to his destination when the sound of an angry argument caught his ear and despite the presence of Hellmouth paranoia his curiosity demanded he investigate. Using his finely tuned sense of selective hearing (hey! It comes in handy sometimes and especially where Snyder is involved) he found the source of the commotion two minutes later coming from Seto's office. Deciding eavesdropping was the correct course of action he edged as close to the door as he could without touching it and listened to hear what had gotten ol' Setty's panties in a bunch.

"I think you misunderstand your position Mr. Ishida. While I will admit your company is making impressive progress it will be years before it might constitute a threat to my company." Seto said frigidly as he tried to make his position of superiority clear, "Assuming of course I even **let** you get that powerful in the first place."

"Perhaps but I'm sure your step-father Gozaburo thought the same thing about you and yet here you are living in **his** home and running **his** company." Ishida said with hostility, "Clearly just because something looks like it's not a threat doesn't necessarily make it so."

_Ahhh the sounds of a corporate C.E.O pissing contest!_ He thought with a roll of the eyes as both Ishida and Kaiba went into another round of posturing and veiled threats or insults.

"Look Mr. Ishida as much as I would like to continue this debate I have more important things to do then argue with someone who is at best a minor competitor in the corporate field." Seto remarked sounding distinctly annoyed as well as impatient, "So unless you have something to say of interest to me I suggest you leave."

"Perhaps this proposal of mine will catch your interest then. Like you I have no wish for a prolonged struggle between our respective companies so I propose we settle things in a more efficient manner." Ishida said like he was making a sales pitch, "One week from now we will have a five person team elimination Duel Monsters match, as that seems to be your chosen field of expertise, and the winner will get to choose his prize."

There was silence for a moment but Seto must have nodded because afterwards Ishida continued with his proposal.

"The teams will be composed of three professional duelists, one rookie who has competed professionally for less than a year and one person hand picked by the opposing team's manager namely you or me." Ishida explained laying down the ground rules, "The duelists will square off one-on-one until there are only two left at which point you and I will join the survivors of our respective teams in a final tag team duel. As stated if you should win you will be able to ask for anything you desire be it merely one of my subsidiaries or my entire corporate empire. However should I win the same opportunity will be given to me making it entirely possible for you to lose everything you own. What do you think of my proposal?"

_I'm not sure why I'm thinking this but I **really** don't think that Seto should agree to this. _He thought since he smelled something fishy in the works, _I could care less about that prick Kaiba but given how nice Mokuba's been to me since I got here I'd kinda feel bad if he wound up being kicked to the curb because his older brother's ego got them in trouble._

"I think you're a fool for challenging me to Duel Monsters Mr. Ishida but your 'one wish' prize for the winner is quite tempting since it would save me both time and money crushing you the normal way." Seto replied sounding supremely confident in his skills and questioned Ishida's intelligence at the same time, "It's a deal then. You'll have my list of duelists in two days as well as my choice for your final team member."

"While it will likely take me two days as well to choose the four members of my team I have already chosen who will be your final member." Ishida said with a voice that practically screamed that he had a sinister smile on his face, "Mr. Harris! Why don't you come in and sit down. I know you've heard the particulars of the deal and I have chosen you to be the final member of Seto Kaiba's team."

"HUH!?" Xander exclaimed as his surprise caused him to stumble forward and open the door by accident.

"You can't be serious!" Kaiba declared no doubt beginning to sense that Ishida was up to something sneaky.

"I assure you I'm quite serious. While I am aware that Mr. Harris has little if any real experience at Duel Monsters I'm sure under your tutelage he can be made into a competent duelist in time." Ishida said with barely believable civility, "After all if the one time Duel Monsters champion cannot do it then perhaps your skills are not as impressive as I've been led to believe."

_Seto's being played and if I don't do something quickly his ego will drag him even deeper into the muck._ Xander thought as his mind scrambled for a way to throw a monkey wrench into Ishida's plans.

"Well then how about we compromise here guys." He said taking the two businessmen by surprise and getting their attention at the same time, "How about as a handicap you let Seto here produce four cards, designed by me, especially for this match. What they'll be will be kept a secret until the day of the duel but in return I'll guarantee that they won't be all-powerful and will have a weakness that your team can exploit. Basically you'd still get to put a newbie like me on Seto's team but the four cards I make will give me a fighting chance to stay in the game. Sound good to you?"

Mr. Ishida looked speculative for a moment but apparently when he saw the look of indecision on Seto's face that was enough to entice his ambitious nature forward.

"You have a deal Mr. Harris. So long as you hold to the stipulations you mentioned I see no reason why you should be prevented from creating four cards of your own." Mr. Ishida replied pretending to be the epitome of fairness.

Both he and Ishida looked at Seto to see what his decision would be but given Kaiba boy's pride, ego and superiority complex the teen from good old Sunnyhell had little doubt which way the young C.E.O would choose.

"Fine. Just make sure you're equally happy when you see who I've chosen to be your final member." Seto said making it clear that while he wasn't happy he would allow Ishida's choice to stand.

"Of course. See you in seven days then **Mr. Kaiba**." Ishida said with a formal bow and with that he trotted out of the elder Kaiba brother's office like he had already won.

"I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into Harris." Seto said making it clear that he would not allow Xander to cost him his empire, "Start working on your card designs immediately. I'll expect them by tomorrow evening at the latest. Now leave."

With those words Seto effectively made it so he no longer acknowledged Xander existed instead preferring to focus on running his business as well as choosing the other four members of his team. Knowing it wouldn't be worth the effort to try and chat with the young C.E.O any longer the founding male member of the Scooby gang turned towards the door and headed back to his room.

_Now if only I knew how to design a Duel Monsters card I'd be in business! _He thought sarcastically as he tried to come up with four card ideas for a game he'd only discovered a few days ago.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kaiba Land, Main Dueling Arena, Seven Days Later 

"What the **HELL** are all those people and TV cameras doing out there!?" Xander asked in surprise after ducking back behind the curtain separating the backstage area from the duelling platform.

"Seto's idea I'm afraid." Mokuba replied in a tone showing that he didn't think it was a good thing either, "He's still pretty mad at Ishida so I bet he wants to embarrass the man on international TV."

"INTERNATIONAL TV!?!?! You mean this thing is going to be broadcast worldwide!" Xander exclaimed as a distinct case of stage fright aka cold feet came over him.

While the rest of the team might think this odd both he and Mokuba knew he was perfectly justified in his apprehension. While it was true that for the past seven days Seto Kaiba had worked him like a dog pounding every duelling fact and strategy into his head it was still only a week of training versus the months if not years of experience everyone else had. No matter how good a duelist Seto was there was no way he could take a nobody off the street and in under a week make him as good as an experienced Duel Monsters player. The elder Kaiba brother knew this judging from the fact that he had given the Scooby a suitcase of rare and powerful cards to construct a duel deck from. No doubt the idiot thought that with cards like those even a monkey could win a duel. However he knew from countless comic books that you could put the most powerful weapon in existence into the hands of an amateur and he'd still be an amateur. The only comfort Xander had in his present situation came from the four cards he'd design himself (with a little help from Mokuba). He'd worked late into the night and most of the next day drawing the cards and then listing their characteristics like special effects and attack points. He must have gone through at least five separate drafts of each card before he finally felt confident enough in his creations to take them to Seto.

_The He-Cordy actually looked impressed if that raised eyebrow thing was any hint. _He thought as he tried to calm himself down with a couple of deep breaths.

Now the big day had arrived and as a **fun** little twist the opponents for the matches would be randomly chosen by a computer to ensure fairness.

_Fairness my ASS!_ He thought as the differences in skill level between him and the others once more entered his mind.

"Relax Xander!" came the voice of one of his team mates as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It's okay to be a little edgy before your first real duel as long as you don't let the fear control you. Just go out there when you're called and give it your best shot!"

"Thanks Mai." He said with genuine gratitude at the support the blonde duelist had given him.

Then the light shining in from the other side of the curtain went out only to be replaced with a dimmer one that was most likely a spotlight.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Kaiba Land and the 'Battle of Champions' exhibition tournament!" declared the announcer sounding strangely like that famous boxing match announcer, "As you may have seen on the posters or in the advertisements on TV this is an team elimination duelling tournament between Team Kaiba and Team Ishida. Members of both teams will face each other one-one-one until only one member of each time remains. Then both Mr. Seto Kaiba and Mr. Aizen Ishida will team up with their surviving duelist to fight it out in a deciding tag team duel to decide the ultimate winner of this event. So without further adieu let's have the computer select our first two duelists!"

_Pleasenotmepleasenotmepleasenotme!!_ He thought as he prayed to whatever higher being might take pity on him not to put him out there first.

"The first match of this tournament will be Alexander Harris from Team Kaiba versus Rafael from Team Ishida!" declared the announcer with energy in order to hype up the crowd, "Would the chosen duelists please step forward and step onto the duelling platform please."

"Shit!" he muttered to himself as he willed his uneasy legs to take him to and through the curtain, "The Harris luck strikes again! Thanks a **LOT** Tony!"

Walking down the red carpet that had been laid out from the backstage area where he'd been to the platform ahead of him he did his best not to notice the crowd but rather focus on his opponent coming at him from the other side of the arena. He didn't have much luck since the crowd was going nuts with a mixture of cheers and booing with the latter most likely directed at him knowing his luck. Climbing up the steps to get onto the platform he almost tripped on the final step but managed to regain his balance hopefully without anyone noticing his clumsiness too much. The laughter he heard seconds later told him he had been caught and caught on live TV at that.

_Sure hope the gang isn't watching this back home!_ He thought as he composed himself as best he could and did the traditional 'stare down your opponent' move all duels pretty much required.

"Don't worry kid. I'll make sure to go easy on you." Rafael, dressed like a cross between a biker and an Angel wannabe, said with generosity.

"Thanks for offering but I'd prefer it if you duelled me honestly." He said with his brain asking his heart what the **hell** it thought it was doing, "After all it'll hardly be as satisfying when I win if it turns out I only beat you 'cause you were holding back."

This surprised Rafael a bit but then he smiled and nodded silently saying that he would fight the male Scooby fair and square.

"Duelists! Insert your decks into your duel disks!" the announcer ordered with authority.

Taking the deck he made out of a leather holster Kaiba had tossed at him this morning he slid it into the designated slot on the 'duel disk' thing he had clamped to his forearm. Rafael did the same and immediately, both on their disks and on the big screen above their heads, life points totalling four thousand appeared.

"Duelists! Activate your duel disks!" yelled the announcer.

Pressing the button on the underside of the duel disk where Mokuba had shown him he watched as the two separate wings of the disk snapped together to become one and then slide into position pointing at Rafael. A cascade of electronic lights flashed over the card slots indicating that the device was active and connected to the duelling system of the arena.

"Duelists! Are you Ready?" the announcer asked them looking back and forth between Xander and Rafael.

"Definitely!" Xander replied trying to sound battle ready and eager to get started.

"I was born ready!" Rafael said sounding like he had already won.

"Then without further delay: IT'S TIME TO DUEL!" the announcer declared and with that the first real duel of Xander LaVelle Harris began for the world to see.

No pressure right?

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&


	10. The Phoenix Effect

"_The Phoenix Effect"_

_BtVS/Bleach crossover_

_Note : To be on the safe side I plan on having this start after the season finale of BtVS and a week after the first episode of the Anime series Bleach. To those who would point out the potential differences in time from the date the BtVS finale aired and when the first episode of Bleach aired in Japan I would ask for tolerance and flexibility. The whole purpose of fanfic is to explore possibilities and to twist how things originally went in the specified TV shows/movies/books/games. As such a little 'artistic freedom' is warranted. _

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_**Japan, Two Years After the Collapse of Sunnydale, **_

An Abandoned Shrine in the Middle of Nowhere, Night Time 

"Are you sure this is the place Giles?" Xander asked as the reunited Scoobies covertly observed the abandoned structure from the cover provided by the trees.

"For the tenth time Xander **YES**!" Giles replied as he returned his eyes to the binoculars so he could complete his examination of the area immediately around the building.

"So-orry! I just thought that it was a little strange that some kind of super dark demonic magical ritual was being done in what's supposed to be holy ground." Xander said putting up his hands in the universal sign of 'no threat here' or 'hey don't shoot the messenger'.

It had all started about two weeks ago when one of the seers the new council had on retainer had a vision with portents pointing to something evil and probably demonic getting a major power increase and becoming a 'God of Death'. There were other bits and pieces that came with the main message but nothing that made any sense either to the seer herself or to any of the research-o-maniacs that he swore lived in the library. A head of blonde hair, three figures lined up in front of one another and a katana that burst into flames so bright that it was enough to force the vision to come to an end. He still wasn't sure what that meant, given how little he knew about the specifics of how the whole 'see the future' thing worked, but he guessed that whatever source was sending her the info overloaded her brain and caused it to break the connection or fry. In any case the gang spent the next week examining every bit and piece of what the seer saw and it all point to Japan and an abandoned shrine. Now most would think 'needle in a haystack' right? Right. However thanks to extensive records kept at the recently reopened Japanese branch of the council they had a list of every shrine in Japan and pictures of them to boot. After that it didn't take long to find the place from the vision although looking at it now he was left wondering what the **hell** was keeping that thing upright. There were boards and support beams missing everywhere making it look like a disaster waiting to happen to his ex-carpenter trained eye. So either the demons they were after weighed about as much as a feather or the shrine was **WAY** sturdier than it looked.

"It does seem to be somewhat of a contradiction but I suppose it is Dra'Koth's way of spitting in the eyes of heaven." Giles said as he put the binoculars down having completed his once over of the target area, "Defying them by holding a foul ritual right where they can see him and could hypothetically intervene."

"So why don't they?" Xander asked as he worked to understand what the glasses wearing Brit was saying, "Where are all the guys and gals in Romanesque armour with spears and swords and stuff?"

"While I hate to destroy your illusions never in recorded history have the legions of heaven ever appeared on Earth in the manner seen in popular modern media." Giles replied closing his eyes while cursing the American educational system, "They work in more subtle ways that defy comprehension by our mortal minds. I'd wager that their only action to prevent this ritual from succeeding was ensuring that one of our seers was alerted to it in the first place."

"So basically instead of getting of their heavenly butts and doing something real for a change they just forwarded the problem to us?" Xander asked rhetorically as he mentally mouthed off to the PTBs for once again being all hype and no show, "It just fills you with confidence that the leaders of the side of goodness are such proactive and hands on don't it?"

Hearing a rustle of leaves behind him both he and Giles whirled around with their swords drawn ready to skewer or hack whatever threat was coming at them from the rear. Fortunately for them it turned out to be allies rather than enemies as the two men watched the remaining three members of their group emerge from the shadows of the forest.

"Took care of the patrols Giles but we probably got five minutes before someone'll get twitchy and hit the alarms." Buffy said walking right up to them completely ignoring the fact that two sharp and deadly weapons had been pointed at her moments ago.

It probably wasn't that she didn't think they could use the blades but rather than she was impatient to get back to her sabbatical from slaying that she had been on ever since the new Council got up and running. After the Sunnydale battle and once everyone had managed to get patched up from battling the army of Turokhan everyone had gotten to work getting a hold of whatever was left of the old Council's holdings. It wasn't much considering that the First had been hitting Watcher safe houses worldwide in order to cripple the organization as well as kill all the potential Slayers it could find but still something was better than nothing. It took a year but eventually they managed to get things so that matters weren't so heavily dependant on the core Scoobies and they could afford to catch some R&R. For Buffy that apparently meant getting seven years worth of downtime in because while the majority of them only took a couple of months off she had walked out of the main Council headquarters that day and was only now returning to active status. That being more because she had been **in** Japan when the vision came through making her the senior Slayer on site and therefore the best person for the job. Didn't mean she was any happier to have to deal with an interruption to her extended vacation.

"No problem B 'cause strictly speaking these guys were fuckin' lightweights." Faith said as she stalked her way towards them a couple steps behind her sister Slayer, "This Dra'Koth guy must be one o' those 'quantity over quality' types if this is the best he's got."

"Perhaps or it might be that he keeps his more competent and deadly warriors close to him in order to deal with threats such as us." Giles theorized as he took the dark Slayer's words into consideration, "In any case I can detect no signs of arcane traps in the immediate area around the shrine nor could Xander perceive any military style weaponry."

"Not that that means much of course." He said recalling what he had inherited that fateful Halloween night, "Any merc worth the name would make sure to hide his little party favours so his target couldn't see them until it was too late."

"Be that as it may we had best get moving." Giles said as he hefted his bag of ingredients and weapons up onto his shoulder, "If our estimates were accurate Dra'Koth should be beginning the ritual in the next few minutes. It is imperative that we stop him before he can complete it!"

"Then we better hurry 'cause I'm picking up some major mojo flowing around here and it's getting worse." Warned the final member of the group as Willow looked at the shrine and saw things only she and maybe Giles could perceive.

"Alright then ramblers let's get rambling." He said in an effort to lighten the mood somewhat and get the gang into their winning groove.

" Nice Xander but a little corny don't ya think." Faith said with a grin that the others mirrored since they all were quick to pick up on what he was trying to do.

"Hey, it's me!" he said and without a word more he began his military approach towards the shrine with his modified AK-47 ready to go.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Twenty Minutes Later, A Hidden Chamber Deep Beneath the Shrine 

"So anyone got a plan 'cause this one ain't workin'?" Xander yelled over the sounds of battle that echoed throughout the chamber as the Scoobies gave their all to stop one seriously evil looking Dra'Koth from sticking his katana through the chest of a naked Asian teenage girl chained to the wall.

Getting down to the chamber had been easy enough since Giles' theory about the head honcho keeping all his best fighters close by proved to be true. Unfortunately those few skilled warriors were **damn** good at what they did and were managing to hold off the Scoobies allowing their master to continue his dark ritual. Both Faith and Buffy were throwing down with the heavy hitters up close and personal while Willow and Giles worked to bind the magic of the one sorcerer that wasn't involved in the ritual. As for him, well, he was using his AK to take shots of opportunity and to give his buds some breathing space whenever their respective opponents temporarily got the upper hand. Aside from that though there wasn't much he could do with such a storm of melee and magical combat going on everywhere. Even before he lost his eye he wouldn't have tried running through all that because for all his years of fighting the darkness he still wasn't quick enough or agile enough to get through something like this in one piece. Unfortunately it looked like his shortcoming was going to be the death of them because no matter how hard the Scoobies fought none of them were making headway quick enough to get to Dra'Koth in time.

_Funny name considering he looks like a cross between Riddick and Pierce Brosnan._ He thought as he tried to get a clear shot through all the fight to take the demon out.

It was a pretty accurate description in that the demon had Vin Diesal's height and build but had Brosnan's face and hair with blood red eyes that screamed demon. Dressed in red and gold robes appropriate for a dark ritual he was advancing on the girl who was probably a virgin sacrifice because 'hey' what would any dark ritual be without one of them. The former Zeppo, former Key guy and founding male member of the Scooby gang knew that if someone didn't do something quick the demon guy would get what he wanted and then it would all be over. This of course left him with the question 'do what?' and to that there was only one answer he could think of even though the thought of it had him questioning his own sanity.

_Still if the rest of the gang react like I hope they will then it **should** work out okay. _He thought as he took one last look at his friends, _I hope._

Jumping over the alter he had taken cover behind he ran straight towards Dra'Koth determined not to let anything stop him be it his own fear or the demon's bodyguards. He got a quarter of the way there before everyone else caught on and just as he'd hoped all three bodyguards immediately tried to intercept him either by break off their current fights with their chosen sparring partners or by sending implements of death his way. Chaotic dodging kept some of it from hitting him but the rest was handled when his half-baked prediction came to pass right on time. By taking a bit of their attention away from Buffy, Faith, Giles and Willow gaps began to show up in their defences that did not exist before. Where before they fought the Scoobies to a stalemate his friends were now beginning to score some serious hits that caused the matches to turn in their favour. That wasn't to say that some of the bodyguards' attacks failed to do damage because even the near misses managed to hurt him through flying debris alone. Slices in his jeans and a nasty bleeding cut on his forehead were all signs that he was evading serious injury by the slimmest of margins.

_Don't I always though?_ He thought rhetorically remembering all the times he managed to avoid getting killed or paralysed or something.

True the fact that he was now missing an eye told him that his good luck in avoiding serious injury came with a couple of limitations but considering what him and the gang had been through since the Harvest in Sunnydale he was still pretty fortunate.

He reached the three quarters mark before Dra'Koth actually noticed that something was up and turned to see what was going on. Deciding that now was not the time for his famous dry wit he brought up his AK and starting firing off short bursts since going all out could endanger the sacrifice if a stray shot got past Mr. Demon. This had two results both of which were a mix of good and bad news considering the situation he was in. First he managed to score a direct hit on the demon with one of his bursts and given the roar of pain Dra'Koth let out it **definitely hurt**. The bad side of this was that now Mr. Red Eyes had a serious mad on for him and no doubt was putting 'kill Xander painfully' at the top of his to do list. The second effect this had was that it had the bodyguards going postal trying to come to the defence of their master to the point where they were willing to take serious damage if it meant they had a chance of doing it. This gave the Scoobies a real opportunity to put their sparring partners down quickly since defence apparently wasn't a priority for the bad guys anymore. So it was no wonder that this caused things to hasten towards a conclusion **a lot** quicker than it otherwise would.

"Your feeble attempt to kill me will not succeed human!" Dra'Koth yelled as he attacked with his katana lashing out with a series of slashes both vertical and horizontal, "I will kill you and then complete the ritual that will grant me the powers of a Death God! I will become one of the most powerful demon lords on the planet and all will bow down before me!"

_Death God? Not God of Death?_ He thought as he tried to bring up his AK only to have it sliced just shy of his fingers, _Don't tell me Giles mistranslated something!_

With its ability to fire in question he had no choice but to use his formerly functional firearm as a melee weapon in order to block or parry Dra'Koth's attacks. It did not work out like he'd hoped because while he was successfully keeping the blade from cutting anything vital the damage on the AK was accumulating fast. It wouldn't last long and then he'd be completely unarmed against the demon and his sword which was **not** a situation he was fond of in the least. That meant that he had to put an end to this fight in a hurry before things tipped nastily in Dra'Koth's favour and that meant he had to go on the offensive. Parrying one more slash he surged forward intent on shoving the sharp point his weapon's barrel had been turned into through the demon's heart (assuming it was anywhere near where a human's heart would be of course). The high ranking demon bellowed as the improvised spear pierced his skin and when the slashes of the katana ceased coming at him he thought for a moment that he had hit the sweet spot ending the fight for good.

A star **AND** tweety bird inducing right hook quickly disproved that notion since it sent the former Zeppo flying a good eight feet before touching down and skidding to a halt in front of the human sacrifice. Fighting the mess the blow had made of his head he pushed himself into a sitting position and did his best to get into any type of defensive position in order to buy enough time for the rest of his senses to come back to him. By the time they did though there was nothing that could be done but watch a sequence of events transpire that have never occurred in recorded history nor would likely be seen again for a very long time.

Dra'Koth was coming at with in a feral fury, the combination of his injuries as well as the potential ruining of his master plan causing him to fixate on destroying those he deemed responsible, intent on tearing Xander LaVelle Harris to pieces. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, as their minds were focused on more important self-preserving matters, the ritual that had been put into motion by the demon was reaching optimum acceleration and would reach critical mass in moments. Finally the teenage Japanese girl who had been up until this point in an unconscious drugged state had regained consciousness. However she had only five seconds to take a look at the mess she'd gotten herself into before the final event took place changing everything forever. It was at that moment, five seconds after the girl came to, Dra'Koth thrust his katana all the way through Xander's stomach and into the stomach of the teenage girl's chest. Had the demon been a little more lucid and a lot less crazed he never would have done such a thing. This was because according to the specifics of the ritual he wanted to perform, the one that would transfer the girl's hidden power into his body, he needed to plunge his katana into her chest at just the right time. The ritual **did not** require a human male who had spent the past nine years fighting evil and had been born on a Hellmouth to be impaled on the blade as well. As a result things took a rather unexpected and unpredictable turn.

No doubt Buffy would say 'understatement much?'.

Due to the interference of one young man and one hothead of a demon the ritual was sent into chaos that the founding members of the Scooby gang knew meant trouble with a capital T. Energy exploded from the spot where the demon, young man and teenage girl were throwing everyone in the chamber who had been standing off their feet to varying degrees. For those closer to ground zero the force of the explosion was enough to toss them into the air but for those on the periphery of the blast they just got knocked on their collective butts. Those were the effects horizontally. Vertically on the other hand it was much more dramatic as the energy released by the trio shot upwards disintegrating the ceiling of the chamber as well as everything above it until it reached the sky itself. Like a fountain the energy maintained this state, throwing of intermittent flashes of energy to the sides up at the top where it could rise no further. For a few seconds none could see through the glaring light the pillar of light and so the fate of Xander Harris, the demon Dra'Koth and the teenage girl was unknown. Fortunately the phenomena seemed to take pity on them all and without warning vanished with a twinkling of blue sprinkles leaving a somewhat bewildering and for most terrifying scene before them all.

Lying on the floor with most of his clothes in tatters was one Xander Harris not moving at all save the steady rise and fall of his chest. The only positive thing about what they saw was that there was no sign of the wound caused by Dra'Koth's sword at all. No bleeding hole in the young man's gut, **hell** the sword was **gone**, and both Dra'Koth as well as his sacrifice had vanished as well. Not that they gave a shit where the demon had gone and any concern they had for the one time sacrifice was overshadowed completely by their concern and fear for the life of their closest friend. Both Buffy and Willow tried the normal ways of getting a reaction from him in the form of shaking him and when that failed slapping him across the face. When that didn't work Faith decided to try the sleeping beauty method even though the roles were reversed in this case with the valiant princess trying to wake up the sleeping prince.

Needless to say when that failed it only added to her emotional agitation.

As the emotionally shattered Scooby gang began to employ every healing technique and method of revival they could come up with as well as employ they were completely ignorant of the voice of their friend yelling at them from not fifteen feet away at the top of his lungs.

Then again how could they?

After all only those with deeply spiritual powers can perceive the spirits of the dead and while both Watcher as well as Wicca had senses beyond those of normal people they did not realise that the explosion of energy moments ago had left the senses they needed to see their friend temporarily blinded.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Two Hours Later, Kyoto City Hospital, ICU Waiting Room 

_This is even worse than when we all got trapped in the frat house with the inch tall fear demon!_ Xander fumed as he paced in front of his friends in frustration.

Of course he might have felt better if his friends took notice of his pacing and tried to calm him down but near as he could tell they couldn't see or hear him at all. He had tried to communicate with them in other ways but they had all been so distracted with getting him to the nearest major hospital as quickly as possible that they'd ignored him. They'd travelled to the abandoned shrine light so there was no pen & paper to write with or even Willow's laptop for him to type in a message for the gang to see. When they had finally arrived at the hospital he had thought that this was a good thing as it gave him the opportunity to acquire a pencil and a piece of paper but then reality smacked him upside the hear. While a pencil levitating in mid-air and writing on a piece of paper with no human hand holding it might be just another day at the office for the Scooby gang it would cause chaos if everyone else in the hospital saw it. Given that his body was currently in the hands of people uninformed of the true nature of the world he wasn't willing to risk someone tripping and stabbing him someplace important with a scalpel.

That left sticking close to the gang and hoping that sooner or later a chance to let his friends know what had happened to him would present itself. Not that he himself knew exactly what had happened aside from getting a katana getting introduced to his vital organs, pain, disorientation and finally getting his head back on straight only to find he'd gone through a wacky makeover. Gone were the military style clothes he'd worn on the mission as well as most of the hardware he had strapped to his body when they'd left for the shrine. Instead he was wearing a black kimono and hakama with a white sash around the waist along with century out of date Japanese sandals with white socks underneath. Oh and he had a generic looking sheathed katana tucked underneath the sash that he hadn't messed with too much since he didn't want to risk the whole 'you played with it so you agreed to it' trap. Still he had a pretty good hunch that his new look was somehow tied with what had zapped him out of his body.

_Wait a second! If I got yanked out of my body why don't I just hop back in?_ he thought as he felt like smacking himself for missing such an obvious solution to his problems.

"Ya really don't wanna do that kid." Came a thick male Brooklyn accent from behind him, "At least not yet anyways."

Spinning around he came face to face with someone who looked like a cross between a mobster and a pimp with a face that looked like it belonged in a Dick Tracy comic book. Still he didn't have to wait too long for his mind to put the various clues together and come up with a name to match the person in front of him.

Whistler, Balance Demon for the PTBs, had decided to pay him a visit.

So he did the first thing that popped into his head.

WHAM!

"Ow! Yer really pickin' up some of the Summers' bad habits ya know that!" Whistler said as he rubbed his sore jaw from his position on the floor.

"Depends on your point of view and right now my point of view is that after all the grief you've caused Buffy over the years you're lucky you got off with just a punch!" Xander growled with only the possibility of the balance demon having useful information keeping him from trying out his new katana on the guy.

"Hey! **I** didn't do anything but pass along info and do a few errands for the Powers!" Whistler said sounding a little pissed at everyone blaming him for some decision the PTBs made, "I'd like to see **you** say 'no' to them when they tell ya to do somethin'!"

"Take me to 'em and I'd be glad to! In fact I've got a few issues I'd like to have a little chat with them about myself." He said completely honest and looking forward a bit to airing some grievances with the being that thought they could screw with his friends' lives.

"Maybe some other time kiddo but right now I'm here to give you the 411 on what happened and why ya can't just hop back into yer body." Whistler said knowing it would be bad for the both of them if he agreed to Xander's request to talk to the PTB, "As you know Dra'Koth was plannin' on sacrificing that girl so he could get death god powers. The thing is that he didn't know as much as he thought he did an' was playin' with fire to begin with. Anyway when he stabbed you in the gut the blade went on and pierced the girl's heart setting up an event that quite frankly no one thought could happen in a million years."

"Why is I don't like the sound of that?" he asked rhetorically.

"'Cause you got better survival instincts than yer friends?" Whistler offered mistaking what the former Zeppo said for an actual question.

A Glare was all he got for his troubles.

"The way Dra'Koth originally planned it was that at the peak of the ritual he'd thrust the end of the katana through the girl's heart and the powers'd flow into him." Whistler said moving things right along, "True that is one way of getting a Shinigami's powers but only if they're willin' and only after they fully manifest. Dra'Koth was probably smart enough to know that tryin' to take a Shinigami's powers when they have full control of them was **a bit** stupid so he was plannin' on using the ritual to get the powers without risking his own skin in the process."

_Typical demon. Wants power but isn't willing to stick his neck out to get it. _Xander thought as he jotted down another reason why he hated the demon.

"However like you have a knack for doing you messed things up for him. This however is where things get complicated so you might want to brace yourself." Whistler said as he carefully moved himself out of the former Key Guy's reach, "The ritual that Dra'Koth was doing only needed two people to work but when you added yourself to the mix it threw everything outta whack. Instead of him getting the Shinigami powers they were sucked into you which is why yer sportin' the new look."

"The reason why ya can't just jump back into yer body is because you'd destroy it if ya did." Whistler explained paying extra attention to how close Xander's hand was to the hilt of the katana, "Right now you got a ton of spiritual power inside of ya, some ya got from Dra'Koth but most from the girl, an' if ya went back into yer body you'd overload it completely. We're talkin' instant cremation here kid."

"And you wonder why people think about shooting the messenger." Xander muttered as he went over to an empty seat and sat down in order to deal with this revelation.

"So the higher ups talked things over and they agreed that for the time being you should go to a place called Soul Society which is pretty much the Shinigami's HQ." Whistler said taking the kid's lack of hostile response to be a good thing, "You'd be assigned to one of the Gotei 13 divisions and pretty much live like one o' them until we can figure out a way for ya to get back into yer normal body."

"Who exactly are these Shinigami anyways? I thought there was just the Gods of death and maybe the Grim Reaper." Xander asked deciding to get the important info up front rather than wait until he was actually in Soul Society (what kind of name is that?).

"HA! You think a handful of gods of Death handle all the spirits of the world by themselves?" Whistler asked with a chuckle after hearing a mortal's idea of how life after death works, "They're like the C.E.Os of their respective companies with dozens and dozens of employees workin' under 'em organized into divisions and sections. The Shinigami are the Japanese branch of the life after death gig and are in charge of sending the newly dead around here to their ordained destination. Basically think of 'em like a combination of customs officials and boarder patrol guards."

_O-kay._ Xander thought not really getting the balance demon's explanation of the Shinigami aside from them being a group of not-quite-Grim-Reapers.

"Look they'll explain it all to ya when ya get there." Whistler said apparently picking up on the founding male member of the Scooby gang's cluelessness.

"Hey! I haven't agreed to anything just yet." Xander said trying to avoid committing himself to anything just yet.

"Well then choose quick kid because with the spiritual energy you're putting out it won't be long before some dimwitted Hollow shows up looking for an early mornin' meal." Whistler said taking the time to look up and down the hall to see if his prediction was a little early coming true.

Xander did not like the sound of that and while he still wasn't keen on following the balance demon anywhere he didn't want one of these 'Hollow' things getting people hurt just trying to gobble him up.

"Fine. Let's go." He said taking a long look at the gang before turning back to Whistler.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**One and a Half Months Later, Soul Society,**_

**_Barracks of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13_**

"Ye Lord, Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Inferno and pandemonium, The sea barrier surges, March on to the south!" Xander chanted arms out in front of him with both palms aimed at the target, "Way of Destruction 31 _shakkahō_!"

With the naming of the Demon art a red ball of energy, about the size of a bowling ball, flew from his hands towards the target about thirty-five yards away. For a few brief moments there was nothing but then in a blink of an eye the sphere made contact and an explosion burst forth from the point of contact tearing apart the matter that had gotten in the attack's path. Normally he would be quite pleased since the incantation had gone off without a hitch and the sphere had successfully been let loose without any damage to himself. However right now he was feeling distinctly discouraged since instead of hitting his chosen target, a framed picture of Mayuri Kurotsuchi, that'd he'd hung from the ceiling. Instead he wound up hitting the top right corner of the bookshelf **behind** the picture utterly destroying the books there and scorching those along the edges. Considering the books were records and paperwork he didn't consider them too big a loss and thankfully the demon art hadn't set the neighbouring books on fire so damage was minimal.

_Somehow though I don't think the damage Captain Hitsugaya will do to me will be quite as minimal as I'd like it to be._ He thought as he started to sort through the pieces of paper that had fallen to the ground after the initial detonation, _Better see what I can salvage from this and hope that it keeps Mr. Short an' White from kicking my ass too hard._

It had been a month and a half since he'd been brought to Soul Society by Whistler and during that time he'd come to wonder if the PTBs had sent him here 'for his own good' or just to get him out of the way. Oh the balance demon had said that the Captain of the 12th division was the perfect person to figure out a way to allow him to return to his own body on Earth. According to Whistler he didn't have to worry about his body dying without his spirit in it due to a quirk in the ritual but that it would still be in everyone's best interest for him to return to his old life as soon as possible. Given that the PTBs and Whistler were rarely concerned with the well being of the individual, often more concerned with the universe as a whole, he was suspicious of them and wondered what the real reason was for wanting him normal and home so quickly.

_Probably don't want me to throw this place out of whack as well. _Xander thought with a frown as he examined a piece of paper in his hand to determine if it was salvageable, _After all they're major obsessive about their 'plans' and probably have a few for this place too. _

From what he'd seen since he'd arrived here Whistler's description of the place was pretty accurate after Captain Hitsugaya had explained the purpose of Soul Society and the Shinigami. Apparently the Shinigami were in charge of sending the souls of the dead onto their destination when the spirits didn't go there naturally. When they did this it was called a soul burial and basically sounded like a ghost fading into nothingness. It was also a Shinigami's duty to deal with the Hollows which were monsters with creepy white clay masks that fed on the souls of the dead that had yet to move on. These 'soul vampires' were apparently very attracted to those with high spiritual energy and considered the soul of a Shinigami to be a delicacy. Given how many people lived in Japan he was surprised there weren't Death Gods coming and going all the time to deal with the flow of deceased people or attacking Hollows. He would have been happy to help out with that while he was here but that and other things had been made forbidden to him leaving him very annoyed and **very** bored.

It had been when he had been brought before the thirteen Captains of the Gotei thirteen that he had been informed by the Commander-General that while he would be granted a place to stay among them until his dilemma was solved he would not be instructed in the ways of the Shinigami. The official reason was that it would do him little good to learn the demon arts spells or how to properly wield his zanpakutō since he'd be restored to his human state soon enough. Given the looks he had gotten from some of the Captains and the whispers he'd heard behind his back though he had a hunch it was something more… ugly… than that. In any case it had been Captain Hitsugaya that had been assigned to keep an eye on him and a room had been provided at the tenth division barracks for him to stay in. For the first two weeks he'd split his time between helping out with chores around the barracks and Kurotsuchi's lab where the mad scientist pokes him without end to find a way to return him to his body without destroying it. Eventually though boredom of doing chores and growing annoyance at being that chalky faced psycho's lab specimen caused him to look for something more entertaining to do. In the end that something was covertly watching students from the Shinigami academy train in the forest. Normally spying on a Shinigami would be difficult if not impossible since one of the first skills the students learn is the ability to sense the spiritual energy of others. After a few close calls though he managed to find a group that was sufficiently lacking in that department that he could observe their training without being picked up by them. Thus began his secret training in the ways of the Shinigami that near as he could tell had gone unnoticed by the entire Gotei thirteen.

_Not exactly a complete education considering that you need at least two people for some of the exercises but still informative._ He thought as he tossed a book blown beyond the hope of recovery into the nearby garbage can.

Given that he had to train himself in secret the workout sessions were random, happening whenever he thought he could find a suitable location and enough time, but bit by bit he was coming along. Despite this little mess of his he wasn't stupid enough usually to train **indoors** but business had begun to pick up in the Seireitei making it almost impossible to find an isolated spot to practice. So he had decided to use an old records room deep in the basement of the tenth division's barracks for practice since he figured that the combination of many feet of concrete and unappealing location would be enough to keep others from hearing him. Unfortunately if the explosion he'd just caused was any hint he doubted there was anyone in the entire building who hadn't heard something. Someone would definitely be down here soon and since there was no way he could avoid getting hit with the blame for it the best he could hope for was to make it look like he was taking responsibility for his actions.

Five minutes the door opened swiftly to reveal the duo of Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya and lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto with both of them having one hand on their zanpakutōs. Both looked about the room, zeroing in on the damage he'd caused, before focusing their attention squarely on him with the obvious question in their eyes.

_What to say? What to say?_ He thought as he struggled to think just the right way to explain the mess, _Might as well go with my strengths._

"Don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you a rat in here spontaneously exploded after taking one look at ol' Kurotsuchi's picture would you?" he asked trying to make it sound both feasible and quite amusing at the same time.

Matsumoto looked like she was fighting a giggle but all Captain Hitsugaya did was raise an eyebrow clearly waiting for the real reason there was a smoking bookshelf corner in the room. Now the Xan-man knew that he could try and bluff his way out or even just clam up and say nothing but given how strong he figured both the Captain and lieutenant were he didn't think that that was a healthy course of action. Therefore he had no choice but to cave in and tell them the truth no matter how miserable the punishment would likely make him later.

"Didn't think so. I was just, sort of, getting some training in and figured this room was far enough out of the way for it." He stated looking anywhere but right in the Captain's eyes, "I didn't mean to blow off a corner of the bookshelf but… well… let's just say my aim needs work."

Saying nothing Hitsugaya walked calmly over to the damaged bookshelf, examined the area around where the attack hit, before looking down at the damaged books themselves. Eventually he looked up at the worried former Zeppo and examined him for a few moments.

"Shakkahō?" asked the Captain in order to confirm what he suspected had caused the mess around him.

"Uh, yeah, I was aiming for the picture there." Xander replied pointing briefly at the picture of the 12th division's Captain still hanging from the ceiling.

"I thought it was understood that you were not to try and learn our ways Xander?" Hitsugaya asked implying severe punishment depending on the one eyed carpenter's answer.

"Actually Commander-General Yamamoto-Genryūsai said that it was forbidden for anyone to 'teach' me how to be a Shinigami." Xander replied pointing out the small technicality that might keep him out of getting punished, "He never said I couldn't teach myself by watching others."

Both the Captain and the lieutenant of the tenth division went wide eyed for a moment at the sight of someone with no official rank among the Gotei 13 using their supreme leader's words in such a way. It was a moment later that Captain Hitsugaya turned the tables on him when he turned around and began to take his leave without saying a single thing in rebuttle to the former Zeppo's words. It wasn't until the young Captain got to the door that he spun around and pointed a finger at the picture of the 12th division's Captain.

"Way of destruction number four: _byakurai_" he declared and with a brief flash of blue light a bolt of lightning shot from his uncurled finger spearing the picture right in the middle destroying it completely.

Both Xander and Lieutenant Matsumoto looked at the Captain wondering why he had done that and for what reason since neither had ever seen him do something like that before.

"I can understand how the Commander-General's words might have been misinterpreted by you especially given how new you are to Soul Society." Hitsugaya said frigidly looking Xander right in the eye, "However just the same I cannot let this incident pass unpunished. For the next two weeks you'll aide the fourth division run errands and clean the Seireitei from top to bottom. I believe they just began work at the academy yesterday so you can start your work there. You'll take orders from and report to Captain Unohana while you aide her division. Is this understood?"

"But Captain wouldn't that—" Matsumoto began before being cut off by a glare from Hitsugaya.

"I believe Xander knows what he's in for Matsumoto." The young Captain said sternly before continuing out the door, "Now come. I believe we still have a sizeable amount of paperwork still to do."

"Of course Captain." Masumoto said with a grin as she caught onto what her superior was up to, "See you later Xander. **Work hard!**"

_What the hell did she get that I do--?_ Xander thought as he tried to figure out what had caused the busty redhead to go from protesting to grinning in under a minute and quickly understood, _Why that sneaky little brat!_

With a sneaky smile of his own on his face he trotted out of the records room imagining all the things he'd learn while 'enduring' his punishment.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The Cliff of Sōkyoku, Three Weeks Later, Mid-Day 

_Well isn't this a fine way to top off a miserable morning!_ Xander thought to himself as he stood next to Captain Kyōraku and his lieutenant Nanao.

For the past two weeks he'd been secretly having the time of his life as he secretly observed the various training exercises of the Shinigami in training. If Sunnydale High had been more like this it would definitely have been him that received the label of geek or know-it-all rather than Willow. True he had to cover up his observing with cleaning this or sweeping that but given that he hadn't been caught once since he started he was confident his cover remained intact. However the last while had curtailed whatever learning he might have been able to do as the entire Court of Pure Souls was put on alert for some ryoka or unauthorized spirits that had managed to get inside. Every division was mobilized and were told to apprehend the intruders on sight no matter what the cost. Seeing everyone around him in such an uproar his curiosity had gotten the better of him so he'd grabbed the first Shinigami to cross his path, some kid named Hanatarō, for answers. According to the fourth division member a group of ryoka from the human world had broken into Seireitei and if the rumours were true intended to rescue a young woman named Rukia Kuchiki who was to be executed soon. He hadn't been able to get anything more out of the timid teen since he seemed to be in quite a hurry to get somewhere.

Over the next few days the ryoka had managed to cause quite a commotion and actually managed to defeat most of the eleventh division including the monster known as Zaraki Kenpachi. Unfortunately while this did surprise the Shinigami and actually caused the governing body of the Central forty-six to move up the execution date considerably. To both him and Captain Hitsugaya this stunk, though he was considerably more vocal about it than 'Whitey' was, especially when added to the assassination of Captain Sōsuke. That led him to where he was right now which was standing for both Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto at the execution of Rukia Kuchiki. The Captain hadn't given him a reason choosing instead to give him a piece of folded paper with instructions to give it to the Commander-General once he arrived at the Sōkyoku. Not happy about being left out of whatever private investigation the two were performing he nevertheless did as he was told as repayment for the learning opportunity the Captain had given him. He had a arrived at the place of execution a little before the condemned did and had handed over the note to the Commander-General immediately. Whatever was written in the note surprised the elderly Shinigami because Xander clearly saw the old guy's eyes open much wider than they usually were when he was calm. At the time he had wanted to ask what was in the note but decided that now wasn't the time for such things and simply waited. Yamamoto-Genryūsai, after reading the note, tucked the piece of paper into his uniform and told the former carpenter to stand by the 8th division members.

When he had seen the young woman, Rukia Kuchiki, that was scheduled to be executed the first thought that had come into his head was 'she does not deserve to be killed'. She just looked so ordinary and in terms of physical appearance didn't seem much older than Buffy was when she started slaying. Wondering what exactly she had been found guilty of he carefully leaned over and asked Lieutenant Ise what crime Rukia had committed. The lieutenant was at first surprised that he didn't know but then obviously remembered who she was looking at and promptly explained. Apparently while on a routine Hollow extermination mission to the real world Rukia Kuchiki, whether willingly or unwillingly, had her powers transferred to a living human being. That apparently was a major no-no among the Shinigami and he could see how giving such powers to a John or Jane America might be a bad idea. Added to that crime was the fact that she stayed in the real world **way** past what Shinigami were allowed and that only made her previous crime that much worse since the only reason she stayed there was to supervise the teenage guy who had received her powers. While Lieutenant Ise seemed to be fine with the chosen punishment he couldn't condone it at all. Sure this Rukia girl might have broken the law and caused some problems in the real world but killing her was just going overboard. If they wanted to punish her then they should have tossed her in jail or gone after the teenager who had taken her powers. After all it was highly unlikely that she had broken the law on purpose or at least to that degree and once the human was dealt with a few decades in prison should be enough to teach her a lesson. Sadly since he didn't have a rank within the ranks of the Shinigami much less one high enough to challenge the ruling of the Central sixty-four all he could do was stand here and watch.

"Very well. Just as you have asked, I shall send the ryoka back unharmed the dawn after your execution." Declared Yamamoto-Genryūsai after hearing the condemned woman's request.

"Thank you." Rukia said sounding genuinely relieved that her friends, the ones who had come to rescue her, would be sent back to Earth unharmed.

"How cruel." Lieutenant Kotetsu said softly so as not to be heard by everyone, "He doesn't plan on sending them back alive."

_WHAT!? _Xander thought as he heard what the lieutenant had to say.

"It isn't cruel, Isane." Said Captain Unohana as the experienced healer took her place by her lieutenant's side, "It's mercy."

Those words were all he needed to hear to know that what Kotetsu said was true and it made him both sick to his stomach as well as mad that the person who everyone in Soul Society should look up to was lying right to the face of a person minutes away from being executed. The Shinigami were supposed to stand for something good, honourable and noble but here was the most revered and powerful member of their group lying about sparing the lives of friends that Rukia obviously held quite dear. In his opinion Rukia at least deserved an honest answer out of the old geezer before being executed.

"Captain Unohana! Where have you been?" Lieutenant Kotetsu asked in surprise at her superior's stealthy arrival and lateness to the execution proceedings.

"If it is an unavoidably death, then at least let her have no regrets, no matter how small they might be. Even if it is something small, at least let her be at peace." Captain Unohana said elaborating on the reason for the Commander-General's decision to lie.

_Sweet words but it still doesn't change the fact that the old man is lying to her and plans on killing Rukia's friends!_ Xander thought angrily even though he could understand the Captain's point of view, _If there's a place where Shinigami go when they die then Rukia will know the instant she crosses over that the sack of bones lied to her and **then** there'll be hell to pay!_

Keeping his opinions to himself he watched as the priests in charge of the execution encircled the giant spear, Sōkyoku, and began to form a series of hand seals to release the weapon from its confinement. With every seal they formed the Xan-man could see a blue energy field begin to form around the spear growing ever brighter with intensity.

"Release Sōkyoku!" yelled the Commander-General.

With those words the field of energy that had been crackling around the weapon like a campfire took a leap forward in strength becoming a blazing building both in terms of size and strength. Soon after the energy centred itself on the wooden stakes driven into the ground around the weapon that were tied to thick ropes that he presumed kept the spear sealed. Then one by one the thick ropes snapped, as though the weapon had broken them through sheer strength alone, flying into the air and began to unwrap themselves from the middle of the pole part of the weapon. Once completely separated from the tool of execution the ropes shot outwards in every direction hitting the ground more like steel girders than rope. Once the rope had been dealt with three cubes rose from the platform where Rukia stood and pulled her into a position similar to being tied to a cross before lifting her high into the air towards the top of the scaffold.

"Nanao-chan." Said the deep smooth voice of Captain Kyōraku drawing the attention of the one-eyed Scooby down to him, "Don't look so pained. You'll make me sad too."

_Okay so maybe he isn't a complete chauvinistic slacker after all._ Xander thought as he caught the obvious attempt by the man wearing the straw hat.

"I'm not making this face because it's painful." Said the Lieutenant looking away from her Captain.

It looked like the woman might say more but before she could a spout of flame erupted from the ground where the bottom of the Sōkyoku was planted quickly becoming a Washington monument sized column enveloping the spear completely. Just about everyone, with the exception of a few Captains, backed up in surprise at the pillar of fire making it clear that executions using this tool were rare. As the spear, barely visible within its cocoon of flame, rose into the air the fire began to take on a perceivable form. However it was not until the transformation was complete that he saw what the form was. It was an awe inspiring shape of a bird, a phoenix if he remembered what one of Giles' books said, and it spread its wings easily the length of a football field.

"Now **THAT'S** impressive." Said his smart mouth out loud before he could stop it.

Fortunately the rest of those in attendance were too shocked by what they were seeing to take any notice of what he said.

"King Kikou." Said the Commander-General as he spoke the name of the bird of flame, "He is the true form of Sōkyoku's spear, the final enforcer of extreme punishment. When he pierces through a criminal, the sentence will end."

_No kidding! One bite from that flamin' Polly and its instant cremation for whoever is on the receiving end._ Xander thought once he had his mouth firmly under his control.

With a surge of heat he watched as the phoenix flew forward to carry out the unjust sentence given to Rukia Kuchiki and despite his desire to put a stop to it he knew he had neither the authority or the strength to so. No matter what kind of progress he had made in learning the ways of the Shingami nor how some high ranked members seemed to like him somewhat there was no way he could stop such a powerful beast. All he could do was watch and hope that the chalk faced psycho found a way for him to go home soon because right at this moment he couldn't say he liked these Shinigami that much. Not if they were so willing to deal out death to those that broke the law much less to one so undeserving of it.

Then something happened that he had no doubt would be spoken of in Soul Society for years to come because just before the Sōkyoku would have made contact with Rukia it came to a crashing halt. It was almost as if it was an ordinary bird that had suddenly flown into a thick pane of glass and was unable to go any further. All the other Shinigami were floored as none could understand how one of the most powerful weapons in Soul Society could be stopped. It wasn't until a few moments later that the flames that the phoenix was composed of clear enough for everyone to see **what** had stopped the method of execution in its tracks. Although to be perfectly accurate, and understand the unparalleled shock of everyone present, it was actually a **who** that had stopped Sōkyoku as the clear form of a man wearing a cloak of some kind and a huge sword on his back could be seen.

"I-impossible!" exclaimed Captain Soifon as she was no doubt trying to comprehend what she was seeing with her own eyes, "Did he stop it!? He was able to stop the Sōkyoku spear that has the explosive power of one million zanpakutō with only one zanpakutō! Just what is he?"

_A hero that's what!_ Xander thought with glee as he saw hope for Rukia for the first time since this whole execution started.

"Nanao-chan, is this boy possibly the one that the ryoka guy mentioned?" asked Kyōraku as he like the other Shinigami took in the sight before them.

"Yes. His physical characteristics also match the reports sent in by the different divisions." Lieutenant Ise replied with surprising composure considering what she was witnessing.

"I see…" Captain Kyōraku stated as he used one hand to keep his straw hat on in the wind generated by the power of Sōkyoku, "It means that, in the end, they were the ones who made it in time."

_Is it just me or did I catch a Captain implying that he might have been planning to interrupt the proceedings a bit?_ Xander thought as he contemplated what he'd just heard.

With a roar that sounded entirely inappropriate for a bird the phoenix backed away from the man that had prevented it from doing its job and prepared itself for another assault. The man seemed to know that and so when the Sōkyoku charged forward towards its target the orange haired guy charged as well. It was Super Shinigami versus the flaming chicken, round two, but before the two combatants could lock up once more a thick crimson cord shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the neck of the phoenix before falling to the ground. Just about everyone turned to see who else had decided to interfere with this lawful execution but it was Isane who gave them names. The group was composed of three people: Captain Ukitake, co-lieutenant Kiyone Kotetsu and co-lieutenant Kotsubaki. The first was most certainly the one who had roped the flaming vulture and he seemed to have one big ass shield making it clear he was ready to get violent if he had to. Then the conspiracy got two more members as both the Captain and the lieutenant of the 8th division leapt to where the end of the cord had hit the ground and plunged it like a stake into the ground.

"Hey, pretty boy. You really made us wait." Kyōraku asked jokingly to hide the full extent of how happy he was that the gang was all here.

This caused everyone's attention to be split between the man that had dared to challenge the Sōkyoku and the two Captains that looked to be rebelling against the Gotei 13. Personally he was having a great deal of trouble keeping the crazy smile he wanted to use watered down to a grin since he was almost certain now that Rukia would be saved.

"Sorry. It took awhile to release." Ukitake said apologizing for his lateness, "But, I can do it with this!"

With a little too much drama he brought forward the shield he'd brought with him for everyone to see. It was kinda shaped like a V but right in the middle was a intricate square-like design with distinct symbols engraved both at its corners as well as in the middle. Obviously this was something special and not something just anyone could buy at the local armoury.

While he didn't know what the special significance of the shield was Soifon apparently did as she immediately ordered her lieutenant to stop Ukitake and Kyōraku immediately. Apparently the two division leaders intend to use the shield to destroy the phoenix and that was something Ms. Snippy did **not** life. Fortunately the big guy was smarter than he looked and wasn't stupid enough to try and take on two Captains by himself. That was all the delay Ukitake and Kyōraku needed as they both unsheathed their zanpakutō and thrust them into the grooves apparently made for them in the shield. Channelling not only the power of their zanpakutōs but also the shield itself up the red cord ensnaring the phoenix the former Zeppo watched as in the blink of an eye the Sōkyoku exploded raining little bits of flame down on everyone.

That was all it took for Xander to lose what restraint he had as he broke out the widest smile he had since he was sure that without the 'official' tool of execution the entire thing would have to be called off. However the guy that had started the entire mess apparently wanted to make sure all the Is were dotted and the Ts crossed because with a back flip, a twirl of his sword to build up momentum and a vicious stab he unleashed a blast of spiritual energy down into the scaffold that completely split it in two.

"Th-the Sōkyoku scaffold…" Isane said without knowing she was speaking out loud.

That feeling was pretty much what all the Shinigami were experiencing since the intruder had just done the impossible twice as far as they were concerned. First he stopped the Sōkyoku in its tracks and then he destroyed the scaffold that had a defensive power equal to the phoenix's offensive power. Even for someone like him, to whom the weird and the incredible were pretty commonplace, this was a sure sign that this guy was no pushover or weakling. Now though the guy had to make his exit with his friend and something told the former carpenter that leaving would be a lot harder for the teen than getting here. If it came to it though he'd lend what help he could since they were both on the same side not wanting Rukia to be executed. Hopefully his aim had improved enough that his demon arts spells would actually hit what he aimed them at.

Before either the orange haired guy or the Xan-man could make a move one more person decided to add himself to the guest list in the form of Lieutenant Renji Abarai. It was obvious the guy was pretty beat up but still determined to help get Rukia to safety no matter how much it hurt to move.

"So you've come, Renji?" yelled Mr. Red from the top of the scaffold.

"Renji!" Rukia exclaimed in joy as she saw her friend.

"Rukia!" Renji yelled back looking like he was in significant pain.

"Thank goodness you're still alive, Renji!" Rukia yelled with joy.

"I thought you'd come." Mr. Red remarked as though everything had gone exactly like he'd planned.

"Of course. If I didn't come, who would save Rukia?" Renji said with a tough guy 'tude.

Then Mr. Red did something that had both ally and enemy questioning his position as Rukia's rescuer since he threw her at Renji like she was a pillow with her screaming the entire way down. Even worse was the fact that while Abarai did catch her the power behind the throw was enough to send both him and Rukia skidding backwards along the ground hard enough to leave a trench.

_Definitely needs to work on his rescuing skills!_ Xander thought as he rolled his eyes at Mr. Red's recklessness.

"Idiot! Ichigo, you bastard!" Rukia roared back at the redhead once she got to her knees.

"What would have happened if I'd dropped her!? You jerk!!" Renji yelled adding in his own two cents.

"Take her!" Ichigo said completely ignoring their words, "Don't just sit there! Hurry up and take her away! That's your job. Don't let go of her even if it kills you."

Renji needed to further incentive and took off with Rukia in his arms as fast as he could run given his injuries. Most of the Shinigami, primarily the lieutenants, were frozen in shock that yet another of their comrades had decided to rebel against Soul Society but one Captain was not and decided to snap the others out of it.

"Why are you so surprised, fools!?" Soifon yelled in anger both at the traitors and her own people, "Chase them! All lieutenants after them!"

Once permission was given by their proper Captains Isane, Chōjirō Sasakibe and Marechiyo Ōmaeda took off in pursuit of both Rukia and Renji. For a moment Xander was tempted to try and intercept them but stopped himself before he committed himself to it. He held no illusions about where he stood on the grand scheme of things and knew that even with the few surprises he had up his sleeve he wouldn't be able to beat all three of them. Fate, it seemed, agreed with him since in the blink of an eye Ichigo went from being atop the scaffold watching his friends making their escape to right in front of the pursuing lieutenants. Planting his sword in the ground he made his challenge clear which **did NOT** go over well with the lieutenants as they released their zanpakutōs to the shikai level. Not that it did them much good since in the space of five seconds Ichigo managed to take them all out of the fight for the foreseeable future. A blur of motion though caught his eye and as if from nowhere Captain Byakuya Kuchiki appeared behind the redhead intent on cleaving him in two. Ichigo was up to the challenge though and easily managed to take a hold of his own zanpakutō in time to block the attack. With that initial clash though the battle had been joined and it was clear neither participant would appreciate outside interference. That was okay though since he had a feeling they'd have their own little drama going on right here very soon.

"Sister…" whisptered co-lieutenant Kiyone Kotetsu stared at her fallen sister Isane, "Sister!"

Without hesitation Kiyone began to run towards her sister but given the atmosphere going on right then it was not the smartest move she could have made. Her fellow co-lieutenant shared this opinion apparently as he ran after her.

"Wait, Kiyone! Hey!" Kotsubaki yelled as he tried to catch up to her.

He didn't get far though since in the time it took him to take two steps Captain Soifon had moved from where she had been and with a single blow sent the man with the goatee flying into the air before crashing to the ground unconscious. This stopped Kiyone in her tracks as well as turn around which was a smart move since ignoring the angry Captain at that point would have been a fatal mistake.

"Wait, Soifon!" Ukitake said as he tried to move and intervene.

A thunderous thump from Yamamoto's walking stick as it struck the ground in Ukitake's path stopping him from going any further.

"Don't move!" Yamamoto bellowed with barely controlled anger.

"Genryuusai-dono!" Ukitake said in shock at the elder Shinigami's action.

"The one who ran away with the criminal is a lieutenant. If we assign a replacement for him, the replacement will work." Yamamoto said firmly with his eyes never leaving Ukitake's, "Afterwards we can take our time catching him. However, you are the ones I cannot forgive. As captains, you have done things which you should not have done. You are not ignorant of what that means."

Knowing that her Captain was in big trouble Kiyone tried to move to come to his aide but was stopped by Ukitake with a word and a negative shake of his head.

"Alright, then there's no choice!" Kyōraku said as though he and Ukitake were taking their leave from a party, "Shall we run away for the time being, Ukitake?!"

With a blur of movement they were both gone and Lieutenant Ise vanished with them to some other place in Soul Society most likely. A good idea since he didn't fancy being caught in the middle of a battle between two Captains and the Commander-General given his aversion to pain and death. Yamamoto vanished soon after leaving only a handful of people still at the sight of the unexpectedly cancelled execution. Unfortunately for him and Kiyone though they were left there with two Captains one of which had a seriously bad attitude along with a short fuse. Turning towards Kiyone to make the suggestion that they make a break for it while they still could he found he was too late and just managed to catch Captain Soifon knock the redhead co-lieutenant to the ground with a roundhouse kick to the head before bringing the same foot down hard on the thirteenth division members chest. Hard.

"Trash. In doing this, you have forgotten the pride of being part of the Gotei thirteen. It is an embarrassing betrayal!" Soifon said with contempt and anger as she increased the pressure her foot was putting on Kiyone's chest, "But be at ease. I will make sure you cannot make this embarrassment worse. I shall bury you immediately."

"Okay that's quite enough of that!" Xander said as he charged Soifon while drawing his own zanpakutō.

Slashing at her waist he was not surprised at all when Soifon vanished from her position over the seriously in pain Kiyone but then again he had never expected to hit her in the first place. He had slashed with the intent of getting her to move away from the co-lieutenant so he could use one of the hat tricks he'd been practicing for the past several weeks.

"Disintegrate, Black Dog of Rondanini. Look upon yourself and burn. Tear away your own throat!" he yelled as quickly yet coherently as possible while pointing at Soifon, "Way of Binding number 9: geki!"

With a look of surprise on Soifon's face the Captain was enveloped in a crimson light that froze her entire body in a rigid paralysis. Taking a moment to feel some pride at managing to pull off that spell right he tempered the pride with the fact that the only reason it worked was because the Captain hadn't expected him to be able to do demon arts at all much less a binding spell. She wouldn't fall for the same trick twice and would most certainly not be taken by surprise again which meant that he had to knock the wind out of her sails with his next move.

"O Lord, Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Truth and temperance, Upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!" he chanted quickly, almost stumbling over a few parts, "Way of destruction number thirty-three: **sōkatsui!**"

With those words a ball of neon blue energy shot out from his outstretched hand towards Soifon and as it exploded he thought that he had actually managed to pull it off. However the dirt cloud kicked up by his attack's effect parted briefly and he could see no Soifon where he thought she should be whether it was on the ground or standing up. It took an instant for the truth to click in his head before he whipped around to look behind him and saw Captain Soifon standing there looking even more pissed than she had before if that was at all possible.

"You dare to use demon arts on me even though it is forbidden for you to even know them!" Soifon said looking to be about one minute away from blowing her stack, "Who taught you? Which one of the traitors violated Soul Society law!?"

"No one taught me Soifon. I merely watched and learned and practiced what I learned." He replied as his mind worked a galaxy a minute trying to figure out how he could stay alive **now**, "As for breaking your laws… well if executing someone like Rukia Kuchiki for something that was obviously not her fault is an example of Soul Society law then it can all go to hell!"

"You--!" Soifon growled with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth.

"Yeah, yeah! Look I'm willing to bet that we both have things we'd rather be doing and people we'd rather pound into the ground then each other." He said trying to sound both confident and impatient, "So let's get to the part where we see which of us is stronger shall we?"

"Snort As if a Captain of my stature would waste time with someone who hasn't even graduated from the academy." Soifon said with a sneer as she reached for her zanpakutō and drew it from its sheath.

Instantly Xander found himself surrounded on all sides by members of the Special Mobile Corps of the Shinigami that had answered their leader's call to arms.

"My subordinates in the Special Mobile Corps will be more than enough to deal with you." Soifon said as she began to turn away, "Just like you should have been dealt with from the beginning! Kill him!"

With that Xander could spare no more attention keeping track of Soifon as he was literally up to his neck in sharp and pointy trouble. The next few moments were a blur of motion and instinct as he tried desperately to protect himself from the blows both physical and magical being rained down on him by the ninja clad warriors attacking him. However for every two blows he actually managed to block four more managed to get through with his late defences only partially able to decrease the damage done to his body. He tried to fight back but his sword skills were barely above that of an amateur and without time to speak the proper incantations the effectiveness of his demon arts attacks was cut by two thirds. Not surprising considering the Special Mobile Corps were like black Ops units back home which meant they were the cream of the crop. The only reason he was managing to stay alive, in his opinion, was because these people were taking him lightly due to him not being an academy graduate. They likely thought him to be nothing more than a wannabe Shinigami and were only gradually stepping up their efforts as they grew impatient waiting for him to die.

_They aren't going to have to wait for very much longer at this rate! _He thought to himself as he forced his body to get back to its feet after a particularly nasty sword slash and kick combo one of the Corps members hit him with.

His sword up in a shaky grip he could see them advancing, their legs tensing in preparation to pounce on him and end his life, and for the first time since Caleb he began to feel true fear. Oh there was always a little bit of fear when you hunted demons, fear helped keep you alive, but this was the first time he wouldn't have the gang backing him up. No matter what situation he got into or how bad it seemed he had always had the comfort of knowing that either Buffy, Giles, Willow or Faith would be there to bail him out. Here though, in Soul Society, there was no one really that he could really call friend or at least not to the point where they'd put their life on the line to protect his. In short he was alone, facing no less than ten highly trained warriors, and his body felt like it would grab unconsciousness in a second if given the opportunity.

_Looks like my luck has finally run out!_ He thought as he waited for his enemies to make their move, _All these years of fighting the good fight, surviving things I had no business walking away from, and this is where it all ends._

_It does not have to end Alexander._

"Huh?" he asked in shock as he tried to find the voice, female, that had just spoken to him.

It was then that he noticed something that he had missed during the last couple of seconds. The entire world around him, and the people in it, were frozen in place like someone had pressed pause on their DVD player's remote. Everything from the dirt being kicked up by the fighting to the members of the Special Mobile Corps coming at him to Ichigo's fight in the distance was frozen in time with no signs of moving again any time soon. He was about to speak again when a flickering orange light came into existence behind him bathing the entire area in its glow and stretching his shadow quite far. Turning towards the source he was quite awestruck at the sight before him both because of its beauty and because of the power he could sense. Standing just a little bit shorter than him was a woman of obvious Japanese descent wearing a combination of leather clothes that would have looked at home in Faith's closet and ancient Japanese armour. With a sword in her hand, a bow and quiver of arrows tied to her back and an ornate piece of armour protecting her right shoulder as well as upper right arm it was clear that she was a kick ass warrior. She was not human though, the hair made of flames that floated up into the sky for a foot or two before disappearing kinda made that clear. If that hadn't convinced him the fact that little flicks of flame seemed to dance along the surface of her clothes and skin would have done it.

_It is possible for you to still emerge victorious in this battle._ Came the words of the woman even though he lips did not move an inch, _Only the fear which grows inside of you is keeping you from embracing the power still burning bright inside of you._

"While I usually make it a point not to contradict women who can control fire I'm afraid you're wrong if you think I have enough power to win this." He thought trying to be both polite and honest with this mysterious woman, "I mean sure I got a boost of spiritual energy when I FUBARed that ceremony of Dra'Koth's but I'm using every scrap of it already just to stay alive and I'm **STILL** getting killed here."

_You are wrong Alexander Harris._ Thought/spoke the woman of flame wisely, _Up until now you have only been tapping into spiritual power that has been yours since birth. The energy you gained from the girl, Kamizen, and Dra'Koth still waits within you begging to be released._

"Assuming you're right what do I have to do to access it?" Xander asked not entirely believing or not believing the woman of flame before him.

_Merely accept their power as your own and it will join with what you already had._ The Fire Lady thought/said with a tranquil smile, _I too will lend you my power as you are now my bearer and so are as much a part of me as I am of you. All you need do is release my power from your zanpakutō by calling my name._

"What is your name then?" he asked now willing to trust in the woman's words.

_You know what it is. It has been in your mind since you first laid eyes on me._ Said Fire-Lady with an amused grin, _Now time is about to resume around you. Remember this Alexander: let your courage and nobility shine brightly and no darkness will ever be able to defeat you._

With that bit of cryptic advice the woman flickered out of existence like a fire dying out and he could feel the world of Soul Society beginning to move again. His time out slipping away from him he quickly moved to heed his mysterious advisor's words and looked within him for the power she claimed was still waiting to be used. Closing his eyes he focused his entire mind on looking for the power and while he had his doubts initially the moment he truly acknowledged its existence it appeared before him as bright as the sun itself. He felt like smacking himself a thousand times for missing it and with no hesitation whatsoever he dove into the sphere of fiery energy embracing it completely. With it he felt born anew and with him the battle as well.

_Showtime!_ He thought as he prepared to open his eyes.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Same Area, Same Time, Captain Soifon's Perspective 

"That's enough playing around. Kill him now so we can deal with the rest of these traitors." Soifon ordered as she glanced at the battered form of the boy Hitsugaya had been assigned to take care of.

In her mind this was something that should have been done from the moment the boy had been brought before the Captains of the Gotei thirteen by that foul messenger of the Powers Whistler. He was an abomination, an insult to the young woman who might have one day become a Shinigami herself, and should have been wiped from existence immediately. Only the authority of the Commander-General, who had decided to agree to the request of the Powers to take care of the boy, had kept her from slaying him on the spot. He was a mistake that should never have been allowed to come into being and his actions here today proved that beyond a reasonable doubt. His actions though provided her with all the justification she needed for ordering his death and there was nothing the Powers could do to stop her.

"At once Commander!" replied the leader of the group that had responded to her summons.

"I… **unh**… think you should reconsider you guys." Spoke the boy as stood straighter and looked at her with an inner fire that had not been there a moment ago, "You're on the wrong side here so don't throw your lives away over a mistake."

"Silence fool! The order has been given. You will die at our hands." Said the leader of the Special Mobile Corps unit, "Accept it."

"Well I just got four words to say to that idea." The boy said and then all at once a crimson energy exploded out from him enveloping his form and stretching out fifteen feet in every direction.

So strong was the energy that those who did not evade it in time were thrown back to the ground with parts of their uniform smoking as if it had been touched by a flame. Not surprising because now that she looked at the crimson energy it did seem to conform to the shape of fire as well as move like fire would. She wanted to believe that this was just some last desperate attempt by the monster before her to intimidate his enemies but her ability to sense the spiritual pressure of others told her what she was seeing was real. Her subordinates in the Special Mobile Corps unit though were stubborn and refused to accept this display of energy in front of them believing it to only be a trick. Opening her mouth to order them all to keep their distance she was just a second too late as five of them leapt towards the battered boy with weapons drawn. Unfortunately for them the boy's words were there to fill the silence for her.

"**RISE AND BURN, AMATERASU!**" Alexander yelled and with those words scorching flames exploded outwards from where he stood and swept over everything in within twenty feet of him in a tsunami of fire.

The zanpakutō of Alexander Harris had been released to its shikai stated and Soifon began to worry that anyone that made a mistake of underestimating him from this point on would not get the chance to make a second one.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**_Note from the Author: _**While I know a lot of you canon 'Bleach' fans are likely preparing to flame me over some conflicting or inconsistent facts in this drabble/short please read this before you write or send anything. First off I know that based on the information provided by the anime series a person with high spiritual energy is not born a Shinigami and so does not receive the uniform or a zanpakutō until after they graduate from the academy. This is contradicted though by one Ichigo Kurosaki given that after the powers he gained from Rukia were destroyed and he got them back beneath Kisuke Urahara's shop he was reborn as a shinigami wearing both the uniform and with his zanpakutō. I know that the going theory online is that Ichigo is the reincarnation/reborn Kaien Shiba but as that has not been clearly stated in the official series I felt it gave me an opening. It is **my** theory for **my** Bleach universe that while some people do need to actually enlist and be given their Shinigami gear there are some people who are born to be Shinigami. They have all the necessary abilities and equipment already ready and waiting inside of them and only need to find them to claim them. Whether this was the case with Xander or with the teenage girl Dra'Koth intended to sacrifice I'll leave up to you. Still, Caleb did call Xander 'the one who sees', but see what exactly?

As for the perhaps too fast rate at which Xander was learning demon arts I explain that by saying that the only reason he sucked at schoolwork at Sunnydale High was because he didn't find it interesting. Making things go boom or stopping someone bigger than him in their tracks would easily be enough to make me interested in learning so why not Xander huh?

If you have any other problems or questions please email them to me.


	11. Generation the 13th

"_Generation the 13th"_

_BtVS/YAHF(Yet Another Halloween Fanfic)/Gen 13 crossover_

_Note: Just something I decided to put up in honour of All Hallows Eve. Still it might make for an interesting full-fledged fanfic. Tell me what you think._

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Sunnydale High School, Hallways, Afternoon 

_Look, Buffy, you may be hot stuff when it comes to demonology or whatever, but when it comes to dating, I'm the Slayer._

Although the words had been spoken by a vapid, image obsessed airhead they still struck a painful cord within Buffy that she couldn't quite shake even an hour after she'd left the washroom where Cordelia had spoken them. It hit a sore point of hers that had been there ever since she had first been told of her 'sacred calling' as the Slayer and she knew wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Ever since she'd been approached by Merrick her social life had taken a nosedive and every time she thought it couldn't get any worse it did. To think that once upon a time she was pretty much at the same level of social status as Cordy was and now she was a social pariah or freak as Queen C called her. From social queen to social outcast was the road she'd gone down since she became a Slayer and every single time she tried to be seen as an 'okay girl' by the student body some demon would pop up forcing her to slay it and get labelled as being even weirder.

_It's times like these that I wish whoever was in charge of picking the next Slayer in line had just stayed the hell out of **my LIFE!**_ She thought angrily as she mentally cursed the forces that kept her from improving her status in life.

Then it hit her.

In her mind she replayed the scene from the student lounge at lunch this morning but instead tried to see it from Xander's point of view. He had been approached by a jock, a member of the socially acceptable and admired, gotten into an argument and just when he was about to let himself get pummelled for what he believed in she stuck her nose into things and caused him to be labelled as a 'wuss' because he'd been saved by a girl. Without intending to she had done the same thing to Xander that had been done to her when some lousy higher beings tapped her on the shoulder to become the next 'Chosen One'. With this revelation she slipped even deeper into her funk because not only was she now a social pariah of the school but she had also unknowingly sabotaged a friend's attempt to get at least some respect albeit in a painful manner.

In short she had screwed up big time and unless she wanted to feel like a heel for the rest of the week she had to do something to make it up to Xander.

Hearing the bell ring signifying the end of the class and the warning to get to the next one in under five minutes she picked up her text book and notebook, stuffed them into her book bag, and walked to the classroom door to hook up with Willow. For minutes she said nothing but eventually Willow noticed this and that naturally led to the inquisitiveness mousy redhead was known for through the school.

"What's up Buffy?" Willow asked with some concern at her friend's abnormal behaviour, "You're usually a lot more with the talking about now an' everything."

"I've just found out that I screwed up big time and seriously hurt Xander." She replied as she continued to review the events at lunch hour.

"You mean with Larry and everything?" Willow asked rhetorically since they both knew that was what the blonde Slayer was referring to with her response, "Don't worry he'll get over it. You should have seen when I slipped up and told someone his middle name was LaVelle. He was totally mad at me and… **nuts** I did it again!"

Buffy took a moment to just stare strangely at her friend for the weird and unintentional expose before returning to her own mistake.

"Yeah but this is different. You messed up talking to one person while I slayed his manly reputation in front of the entire student lounge." She said as her mind remembered what that would have meant for some guy back at Hemery when she was Queen B, "It'd be like if I completely humiliated you by accident in front of the entire computer class. I am **such a witch**!"

It was then that a moment of clarity hit her and she knew exactly how she could make things up to Xander **and** keep Herr Snyder from gaining an excuse to give the Scooby gang a detention or something. Grabbing Willow's hand she raced to the next class where she knew Xander would be determined to put operation 'patch things up with Xander' into action.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Ethan's Costume Shop, 3:15p.m 

_Suddenly this idea of mine seems a lot more dangerous than I thought it'd be._ Xander thought as he led Buffy, Dawn and surprisingly Joyce Summers through the aisle of costumes with Willow in tow.

It had all started out so nicely, Buffy coming to him full of apology, with an idea of how the blonde Slayer could make up the axe job she'd done to his rep at school. When he'd heard it he'd been overjoyed since it allowed him to live out one of his personally happy places with absolutely no chance for any backlash to hit him in the face. So it had been with a bounce in his step and a song in his heart that he'd trotted over to the Summers home to pick up both Willow and Buffy so they could head to the new costume place that opened. It had been going good right up to the point that Mrs. Summers had asked Buffy to take Dawn-patrol with them and then things got ugly. While he knew that the blonde Slayer would walk through hell in a bikini… mmmmm bikini… **no**… close sisters they were not. It was more along the lines of partying older sister and jealous younger sister who wasn't allowed to party like her sister. In any case Buffy had not been thrilled with the idea of Dawn tagging alone or with the added stipulation of taking the youngest Summers woman out trick or treating later. Like the stubborn young woman she was Buffy had fought tooth and nail against 'babysitting' Dawn this evening. Most likely she had a date with that walking corpse laughingly named Angel. However she made the mistake of being a little too defiant with her mother and that led him to his current situation. Joyce had insisted on accompanying them to the costume store.

So through the isles they went with Buffy glaring at her sister, Dawn glaring at Buffy, Joyce glaring at both of her daughters and Willow being careful to stay clear of the potential blast zone. Sighing to himself and hoping that the atmosphere in the shop would cool down before something burst into flames he began looking at the various items on the racks or in the bins for his costume choices.

"So what exactly is the deal here Buffy?" Dawn asked with faux curiosity in order to set her elder sister up for another lecture from their mother.

"Look half-pint, I screwed up at school and made Xander look bad, I'm just making up for that by letting him pick out our Halloween costumes." Buffy said not blonde enough to fall for such an obvious trap.

"**Our** costumes?" Willow asked obviously not having been consulted when she had been drafted into this 'make Xander like us again' plan.

"Well, yeah, 'cause you didn't stop me from roughing up Larry you carry some of the blame… right?" Buffy replied not entirely coherent concerning her reasons for including Willow with the Xander Compensation, "'sides we can trust him to pick something tasteful for us… right?"

"We are **SO** doomed." Willow said since she had a much deeper understanding of the mind of Xander Harris than her blonde battling buddy.

"O ye have little faith best bud 'o mine." Xander said with his trademarked lopsided grin in place, "Your costumes will be the epitome of good taste and coolness."

Willow just gave him a look that made clear how much stock she put in that declaration.

"Okay so the steel bikini outfit from Return of the Jedi is out." He said hoping that that would be enough to satisfy his knowledgeable redheaded friend.

The look remained.

"And no Vampirella outfits either." He said mentally mourning the loss of such excellent costume choices.

Willow looked to be about halfway to giving her permission but needed one more sacrifice from him before he'd get a nod from her.

"And they'll involve more fabric than a bikini." He said cursing his missed opportunity to see so much Slayer skin.

"Darn tootin' they will." Willow said declaring victory over the hormones of the only child of Tony and Jessica Harris.

"Well if Willow feels safe enough letting her choose her costume I guess I can let you do the same." Dawn said with a look in her eye that said she wouldn't object if he wanted her to dress like one of Jabba the Hutts dancing girls.

"Well then it looks like I've been outvoted here so you may choose mine as well Xander." Joyce said silently saying in that motherly way that there would be repercussions if the Xan-man didn't choose his costumes carefully.

"Mrs. S?" Xander asked with some shock.

"Mom!" exclaimed both of Joyce's daughters.

Willow wisely chose to stay silent both because the main reactions had already been covered and didn't want to get involved in this potentially lit firecracker.

"Well I'm holding a little costume party at the gallery as well as showing off a few pieces on loan from a friend of mine in L.A so I need a costume." Joyce explained acting as though she didn't know what was so odd about her choice, "I'd planned on going to get my costume later from Party Town but since I'm here with the rest of you I might as well get it here."

_O-kay! If Giles comes in and says he wants me to choose his Halloween outfit I am officially going to wig out!_ Xander thought as his delightfully wonderful opportunity was beginning to take on a life of its own.

"So what've you got in mind Xander?" Joyce asked beginning to scan the costumes nearby for ones a teenage male might chose.

"Ah… j-just give me a minute to think." He replied as he tried to come up with ideas for the four females that wouldn't get him labelled as a pervert or pig.

It was as his eyes passed the section devoted to superheroes and comic book characters that something clicked in his head. Yes. YES! That could work! They were all strong female role models rather than brainless bimbos but at the same time these characters wore outfits that definitely showed off their toned figures nicely. Immediately he raced over to the section and began looking for the things he'd need in order to pull off his improvised master plan. Zipping around he was almost dancing with glee to find out that the store had a green and purple latex suit on hand. Of course he'd have to make a few modifications to make it look like he wanted but that shouldn't be a problem. It took him a little while longer to find the right sort of boots for Willow's outfit but once he did the rest was a piece of cake to find. Dawnie's outfit just took a quick moment for a fabric and decency check before he slung it over his arm and moved on. Joyce's outfit was a little tricky but then he remembered that the character had several variations on her uniform so he chose the one that would suit the ruler of the Summers household best. Fortunately his outfit was a little easier to come by since his character's outfit could easily double for ordinary clothing. The only real thing he needed to get was a pair of realistic looking energy pistols. He knew he was kinda breaking with the theme he'd chosen for the girls since his costume wasn't a member of their team but there was no way in **hell** he was wearing skin tight spandex or pretending to be a hormone driven idiot. A quick trip to the wig section and a few selections from the hair colour in a can section and he was ready to hit the cash register.

"So who're we going to be dressing up as Xan?" Buffy asked being more than a little curious since her own mind couldn't come up with any answers after seeing what he grabbed from various places in the shop.

"Uh-uh Buff'! You'll just have to wait 'til I make a few changes and put 'em on before I give you the skinny on your costumed identities." Xander said wanting to build up the suspense a little and drive them a little nuts.

"C'mon Xander! Not even a **little** hint?" Willow asked as she gave him the puppy dog eyes.

"Nope! Not lookin'! **NOT** looking!" he said as he made sure to look someplace other than into the eyes of his bestest bud in the whole wide world.

"Ahem! May I help you young man?" came the slightly annoyed but still polite voice of the owner of the shop who stood behind the register.

"I'll take all this to go my good man." Xander said silently thankful for someplace else to focus his attention besides Willow's puppy dog eyes.

"An excellent assortment of costume components if I do say so myself." Ethan declared as he scanned the barcode of each item before ringing up the total price, "That comes to sixty-three dollars and twenty-two cents."

For a moment Xander's eyes bugged out but then he recalled what had caused him to make his selections and turned to the four women behind him.

"Don't suppose I could borrow fifty dollars from you guys?" he asked using his best 'am I not worth it' face.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Later, The Summers Home 

"Xander? How is this supposed to be a superhero outfit?" Dawn asked as she trotted down the stairs in the costume he'd chosen for her.

Of the character selections he'd chosen for the four women the one for the youngest Summers woman best matched his own in that it could blend in with normal people easily. It started with some Doc Martins on the feet and then went up to be joined by what could be best described as a cocktail dress made out of form fitting spandex. Fortunately she was also wearing a coat that hopefully would deaden the sexiness factor enough that neither Joyce or Buffy would go nuclear when they saw it. Topping it all off was a quick hair trim so that nothing went past the shoulders, a black hair in a can base with some pink bangs on the front. All in all he thought she looked remarkably like the character he'd thought of back at the costume shop.

_Now if only the rest of the ladies are fitting as well into their outfits._ He thought as he tried to picture how Buffy and Willow looked in their costumes.

"Xander! You **cannot** be serious about me going out looking like **this!**" Buffy yelled from her bedroom upstairs.

"I'm dead serious Buff'." He yelled back with a smug triumphant tone of voice, "What? You decided to go back on your promise?"

There was silence before the telltale sound of booted feet approaching the stairs could be heard and that was all he needed to confirm that he'd won the argument. Not a minute later the elder Summers woman turned the corner and his mind was hit with an instant green screen of death at the sight before him. It was a green screen of death rather than a blue screen of death because standing at the top of the stairs with strapped green boots on her feet, a latex bodysuit altered to show off the wearer's legs and artificially lengthened green elbow length gloves was none other than Buffy Summers. With her he'd gone with the wig instead of a half-baked haircut and hair spray since he hadn't believed for a moment that the Slayer would be as willing to bend to his whims as her little sister had been. All in all though she pulled off the look **very well** causing him to mentally take her off the 'someone to remain miffed at' list since the sight of her in the outfit alone was compensation enough for maiming his rep at school.

"Look at it this way Buffy, I could have had you dress like the character during one of her many wardrobe malfunctions, they involved a lot less cloth than this." He said both smiling at the happy place that provided and the amusing look on the blonde Slayer's face.

Dawn though looked a little displeased at the competition she now had in the form of her sister.

"So where's Willow?" he asked as he angled his head slightly to get a better look at the top of the stairs.

"She's a little busy at the moment trying to decide whether or not she wanted to leave my room in that outfit you gave her." Buffy said making it clear that she had already tried and failed to coax the still low self-confidence teenage girl out for everyone to see.

"Willow! C'mon down! It can't be that bad." He yelled up the stairs in his best voice of encouragement impersonation.

"Wanna bet!" Willow yelled back with her own insecurities and image issues in firm control.

"Look! If it makes you feel any better the character you're dressed up on is feminist to the hilt, is not afraid to stand up for causes he believes in and can kick some serious ass!" he said trying to point out all the attributes the character had that might make his best friend more amiable towards leaving the house in costume.

"R-really?" Willow asked and sounded a little closer to the top of the stairs than she had been before.

"Positive. Now c'mon or we're going to be late and you know what that'll mean for Snyder!" he said and sighed in relief as the regular solid footfalls reaching his ears told him he'd convinced his friend enough.

As she came down the stairs he was just as satisfied with how Willow's costume had turned out as he had been with the others. Starting off with Native American style books with the streamers or whatever at the tops then connected to the rest of the costume by the leg of the computer wizard's green-red bodysuit that left the arms and one leg bare. Metal knee pads went well with the gauntlets she wore on each hand and a good sized black wig managed to complete the costume quite nicely. He had heard both Buffy and Willow debating the use of some girly product to change the redheaded genius' skin tone but eventually they'd decided against it. Probably because it'd be too messy to put on or that the colour might get smudged with all the trick or treating that they'd be involved with tonight.

"Okay Xand', we're all in costume, now please tell us who the **heck** we're supposed to be?" Buffy asked clearly not looking forward to some of the reactions she'd no doubt get once people got a good look at her.

"You three are the superheroines known as Fairchild, Freefall and Rainmaker." Xander replied with quite a bit of showmanship, "Three fifths of the team known as Gen 13!"

"Who of the what?" Buffy asked with her mind drawing a dismal blank at the names her friend had just given her.

"Sigh What do they teach you kids in school these days?" he replied in the typical 'when I was your age' disappointed parent voice, "I'll explain on the way to school okay?"

"Sure but one question first." Dawn said as they all walked out the door, "Is your character a member of this team too?"

"Nope. He's a lot older than the kids on that team and has his own crew that he hangs with." Xander replied as they hit the sidewalk and turned in the direction of the school, "I'd considered going as one of the guy members of the team but one involved wearing spandex and the other required I lower my intelligence level to just above caveman level."

"Doesn't sound like such bad choices to me." Dawn said with a smile clearly liking the idea of either a spandex clad Xander or an easily charmed Xander.

"So who are you dressed as exactly?" Buffy asked wanting to move away from her sister's growing crush on her Xander-shaped friend.

"Just call me Grifter." He replied pulling down the red strip of cloth over his face until the black highlighted holes for his eyes were in the right spot.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Hours Later, Inside a Warehouse in the Industrial District of Sunnydale 

"What the…" Xander said as awareness returned to him and he found himself inexplicably pointing the two laser guns he'd bought at the costume store at Spike.

Looking around at everyone else in the room he found that aside from a few of Peroxide Boy's minions everyone else that had been transformed into their costumes had become normal people again. The goblins were now kids and Willow was no longer moving with that 'little miss protester' attitude that Rainmaker was so well known for in the comic books.

"I'm scared! I want **my MOMMY!**" cried one of the kids and like a dam had burst every other kid did the same.

It was only with that change in the status quo that the Billy Idol vampire noticed that something was not as it had been before. Obviously intending to do what he came to do before things turned against him the vamp tried to yank Buffy, who despite becoming Caitlin Fairchild for the night had still taken something of a beating, up to eye level with him so he could kill her. Xander almost laughed at the comical scene since instead of a head with some hair Spike just got the orange wig he'd gotten at Ethan's to complete the blonde Slayer's costume. However it was definitely Buffy who proved that things were back to normal since a smile and a quip later Spike was scurrying away as fast as he could back to whatever sewer he'd crawled out of.

Walking up to her he said "Hey, Buff'. Welcome back."

"Yeah! You too." She said a bit distracted since she seemed to be a bit puzzled by the amount of lift she'd gotten out of that one punch she'd given Spike.

"You guys remember what happened?" Cordelia asked with some surprise.

"It was creepy. It's like I was there, but I couldn't get out." He said as he remembered the past couple of hours when Cole Cash was in the driver's seat of his body.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Cordy said looking at her costume to indicate what she was talking about, "This outfit's totally skintight."

Ignoring Queen C's trivial comment he watched as Angel and Buffy came together to make sure both of them were alright and unharmed. Shaking his head in disappointment he turned away from the sight and began to both calm the kids down as well as organize them so that they could be taken back to the school. He had been so upbeat and excited when the night had started out but now a combination of both the 'turning into your costume' thing and seeing his hero get snuggly with a vamp had pretty much killed whatever positive feelings he might have had.

Over the course of the next hour they all managed to find their respective kids as well as any strays they came across back to the school. Snyder looked like someone had just stolen his favourite snack cake since he was deprived of a chance to levy some kind of punishment on the Scooby gang. From there the quartet headed to the Summers home to see if Joyce had been affected by the same bit of magic that had transformed them. The elder Summers woman was found to be in bed with the light out so with a chance to delay the potential side effects of the night for at least a few hours Buffy let her mom sleep in peace. Unfortunately when he and Willow were about to leave both were hit with a 'bout of vertigo and nausea so Buff' offered to let them spend the night at her place rather than risk them getting into trouble walking home. Thankful for a way to take some of the strain off their under the weather bodies both he and Willow accepted without further prompting. He took the downstairs couch while Willow slept on an air mattress on the floor of Dawn's bedroom.

_Tonight has definitely been the worst Halloween I've ever been through and considering who I'm forced to live with that's fuckin' saying something._ He thought as he began to drift off to sleep, _Well at least it's over now._

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The Next Morning, Buffy's Room 

_Oooohhhh! Whatever Willow and Xand got last night must've been contagious 'cause I feel like I just got a sewer poured down my throat!_ Buffy thought as she sat up in her bed with sunlight pouring over her.

Sick, nauseous, dizzy or crappy.

Pick one of those and you come a step closer to describing how she felt right at that moment and yet still many steps away. Getting unsteadily to her feet she forced one foot in front of the other, determined to make it to the washroom to empty the contents of her stomach which had turned against her, to get some Tylenol so that the sicky feelings would go away. Pushing her door opened she took little notice of the fact that she had tore it off its hinges with minimal effort. When she let go of the doorknob all she heard was the sound of the door hitting the floor and blamed it on either Xander or Dawn slamming a door somewhere else in the house. With a few slight stumbles she managed to make it into the washroom but that was where her good luck came to an end as her symptoms quadrupled in strength causing her to drop to her knees. A headache like an unending big bang, nausea potent enough to quickly bring her to the point where she wanted to toss her cookies and a fire in her body that left her shaking was all she knew for several moments. Then the episode was over and while she still felt way weird it was a definite improvement over what she'd experienced a few moments ago.

An improvement, that is, until she noticed a distinct draft below her waist as well as a tightness around her chest that hadn't been there before. Puzzlement quickly turned to shock before approaching panic as she noticed that somehow her sweatpants had been reduced to the equivalent of short-shorts and her tank top was essentially a bikini top now.

A bikini top that looked about two sizes too small for her chest at the moment.

Getting to her feet as quickly as she could she was unprepared for the sudden overkill of strength from her legs since instead of just quickly standing she actually leapt into the air. Fortunately the ceiling stopped her from going too far but she knew the repairs for the damage would be coming out of her allowance for the next three months at least. When she felt she had a stronger grip (no pun intended) on her abnormally strong Slayer body she looked in the direction of the mirror to get a more complete picture of what had happened to her only to receive three shocks at once. First was the fact that she actually had to stoop a bit in order to actually look at herself in the mirror since for some reason someone had lowered it from its original place on the wall (at least that is what she told herself). The next shock was the fact that the body she was looking at right then was **NOT** the body she'd gone to sleep in the previous night. After all she'd remember having a body that would make every famous female fashion model in the world look like an anorexic bimbo. Toned muscles, **long** legs, a chest that was a C cup **at least** and a face that was blemish free with none of the changes looking like they'd come from a plastic surgeon. The final shock happened when she grabbed a hold of the sink to steady herself after taking in shock one and two crush it like it had been made out of toothpicks and chalk.

_Wha-what the **HELL** is going on here!?_ She thought as she tried to come up with some feasible reason why she had pulled a She-Hulk all of a sudden.

She knew that she'd gone to bed in her normal body because she didn't remember any difficulty in getting into her sweats or tank top the night before. Her sleep clothes had also been okay after she had woken up so that meant that the change had happened during her war of the sickness symptoms she'd experienced a few minutes ago. As she lined up all the facts in a row she was hit with a sudden case of déjà vu with the events of the past few minutes feeling really familiar for some reason. It was not until she pursued that line of thought further that she hit the jackpot and remembered how Caitlin Fairchild's powers manifested themselves. Once that possible explanation fell into place every odd things since the spell had been broken made sense. That however was not necessarily a good thing since it caused her to ask the next obvious question: did Xander, Willow or Dawn undergo a change like just had?

Running as quickly, yet carefully, as she could she went to her sisters room and whipped open the door taking that one off the hinges just as she had her own and cursed at yet another thing her mother would probably make her pay for to be repaired. Shelving that problem she looked in the direction of her sister's bed to find the youngest Summers girl looking at her elder sister like most people would look at someone who had woken them up **way** too early.

"Hello! There is such a thing called knocking you know!" Dawn snapped at her sister as she mentally debated the merits of trying to back to sleep, "It's right there along with the concept of privacy… and…"

Buffy could tell that it was right about then that her little sister had finally clued into the changes she'd undergone.

"Okay who are you and why do you look like a super sexy version of my sister?" Dawn asked with a mixture of annoyance and a little fear.

"Dawnie it's me!" Buffy said as her mind scrambled to think of ways to prove it, "Remember when you were five and you wanted to make mom and dad breakfast and—"

"Don't **say** another **word**! You're Buffy alright but if you ever speak of that again I'll make sure everyone hears about your 'Jem and the Holograms' phase." Dawn quickly said interrupting her elder sister before the embarrassing facts were potentially passed onto to an awakening Willow.

"My lips are sealed!" Buffy quickly promised not wanting to let anyone know about her pink hair phase.

"They'd better be and what's with the sudden ascension to supermodel?" Dawn asked as her annoyance level began to rise as she completely took in her sister's new body, "As if I didn't already have enough trouble being compared to you beforehand! Now people will look at me and say 'looks like the babe gene skipped her'!"

This ranting went on and on but unknown to the junior Summers woman her rising anger was not the only thing to go up. For Buffy and Willow though they had no trouble seeing that as he temper got hotter Dawn herself floated higher into the air.

"Um, Dawn, you might want to calm down a bit." Buffy said to her sister in an attempt to reverse her little sibling's ascent.

"Don't tell **me** to **calm down!**" Dawn growled as she gave 'the look' to her sister, "You have no idea what its like to be the sister of someone with **your** reputation!"

"Your right. I don't know what it's like." Buffy said deciding that if anyone was going to calm down it had to be her first before her little sister would follow, "But that's not the point right now."

"Then what **is** the point?" Dawn asked with her anger/annoyance decreased a bit as she tried to figure out the reason for her sister's sudden change in approach.

"That you're floating about five feet **above** your bed and don't know it." Buffy replied plainly pointing at the bed located beneath the young Summers woman.

That little fact proved to be enough to shatter the focus and momentum of Dawn's little rant but had the side effect of also turning off whatever it was that had caused her to float herself up towards the ceiling. Dropping like the proverbial stone the now raven haired Summers girl bounced once on the bed before being catapulted off of it and onto the floor.

"Owwww!" Dawn groaned as she got to her feet while rubbing the part of her ass that she'd landed on.

"So… um… any idea what's going on Buffy?" Willow asked as she split her attention between her best female friend and her little sister.

"I got a theory but I need you to help me with a test to make sure." Buffy said not liking the empirical test the memories of Caitlin Fairchild, which she found were still in her head now that she actually looked for them, but knowing it would be the least destructive of the possibilities.

"Sure thing." Willow replied with a slight smile at the thought of taking part in any kind of test.

"Okay I want you to close your mind, clear it of all thought, of everything." Buffy said as she watched her friend obey her instructions, "Now, while there's nothing there, open your eyes and say the first thing that come to mind."

"Mmmmm, nice!" Willow said when she opened her eyes to see Buffy's now ample chest in her direct line of sight.

Of course when she realized both what she had just said, and that might actually mean it, her face went tomato red and little discharges of wind and electricity began to manifest within her personal space. From Buffy's point of view that pretty much validated her theory that somehow the effects of last night's costume transformation spell had not only stuck around but also had altered all three of them just like Caitlin, Sarah and Roxy had been when their Gen powers manifested. Why the spell hadn't ended for them like everyone else in town she didn't know but with these changes came a whole slew of new problems not the least of which was going to school in the hope that Sunnydale blindness would kick in.

"Buffy! What're we going to do!?" Willow exclaimed with the electrical discharges she was generating getting worse as the redhead's anxiety rose, "I can't go home like this and if I go to school do you know how hard it's going to be not to chew Cordy and those vain bimbos for all the damage their doing to independent women everywhere… ohmygod!"

"Look first thing we gotta do is calm down." Buffy said wanting to stop her best friend's anxiety attack before her sparks of lightning set fire to something, "We'll go to Giles and explain everything and then he'll fix us."

"Perhaps daughter but first you will explain to me the many suspicious incidents that you've been involved with since we moved to Sunnydale." Came a voice that was authority personified and yet still had that motherly quality to it.

Looking in the direction of the door Dawn, Buffy and Willow found one Joyce Summers standing there giving them a look that made all three of them decide to obey the woman promptly and efficiently. The thing was that while they knew it was Joyce the woman before them most certainly did not **look** like the Joyce Summers of last night. Instead of seeing a woman in her mid-to-late forties with a fairly trim figure they saw Joyce as she must have looked fifteen or so years ago before she'd had either Buffy or Dawn. Not only that but as evidenced by her sleeveless nightgown the matriarch of the Summers clan definitely had some muscle now that had not been there the night before. It was only when she noticed the twin crimson slashes of red on either of her mother's cheeks and the single red dot in the middle of the older woman's forehead that Buffy was hit with the truth. Her mother had gotten her costume at the same place as the rest of them had and if the changes in her mom were any indication then she likely had retained the abilities of her character as well.

_Oh shit! _She thought as she recalled Xander's description of her Mom's character yesterday when they were all walking to the school to pick up the kids assigned to each of them.

Zealot. Lady Zannah. Co-founder of the Earth branch of the Coda sisterhood of assassins. A warrior with literally centuries of combat experience and insanely skilled in the use of just about every weapon of war she could likely name. In short the epitome of what a female warrior should be and her mom was looking at her like she'd employ a painful brand of 'discipline' on her daughter if she didn't get some answers fast.

Fortunately though Xander chose that moment to arrive and from what she could see there was now a complete set of magically altered people in the room because the Xan-man definitely had more muscle to his body now than he had last night. Add to that a little bit of stubble on his face and the militaristic way he carried himself without, as far as she could tell, knowing it and it was clear that Grifter had left her friend some parting gifts.

"Can you ladies keep the fuckin' noise down?" Xander asked crankily in a way that would make John McClane seem polite, "Man! What's a guy got to do to get a decent night's rest in this house?"

_He's standing in the presence of four examples of women that would send most guys' hormones into overdrive and he's worried about getting some more **sleep**!?_ Buffy thought incredulously even as she respected her friend for being better than your average male.

For a moment Xander just stood there, taking in the scene before him, and then he turned around as though everything was normal and fully clothed and started back down the stairs.

"You want waffles for breakfast Wills?" he asked after the first three steps.

"Um, sure." Willow replied not quite sure how her best friend since pre-school could miss Buffy or even Joyce given the changes they'd undergone.

"Buffy? Dawn? Mrs. S?" he asked clearly inquiring whether they wanted waffles as well.

"Sure Xander."

"Thanks Xan."

"That would be acceptable Alexander." Were the answers that came from each of them respectively as the young man who had been the Grifter for a night vanished from sight.

For a moment they looked at one another, wondering if Xander had gone blind or at the very least gay overnight, before simply shrugging (well Buffy, Willow and Dawn shrugged while Joyce raised an aristocratic eyebrow) before setting off to start their morning routines. If any of them had been telepathic and had taken a peek inside Xander's mind during the moment he had been looking at them all of them would have laughed at his thoughts and perhaps be a bit miffed at his estimate of their self-restraint.

Want to know what he was thinking?

_Back away slowly, do not react or say one word!_ Xander had thought before turning around to head back downstairs, _'Cause I might be crazy but I sure as hell ain't stupid! No way am I gonna ogle Buffy's Fairchild chest or remark about how much of a babe Joyce is right now! Contrary to what some people might think **I am not that stupid!**_


	12. Quae nocent, saepe docent

"_Quae nocent, saepe docent (What hurts, often instructs. One learns by bitter experience)"_

_Tenjou Tenge/BtVS crossover_

_(Title Tentative, Subject to Change, Suggestions welcome)_

Note: This happens during the second season of BtVS two or so months prior to the beginning of the 'Incan Mummy Girl' Episode. In Tenjou Tenge this would happen about a month prior to the Todoh Academy tournament in which Souichiro and company as members of the Juuken club intend to defeat the current Executive Council led by Mitsuomi Takayanagi. There may be some deviations from canon but I assure you that such differences are only made to improve the enjoyment of the short/drabble.

A 747 Flying Across the Atlantic Towards Japan, First Class 

_I know I've asked myself this before but I can't get the question out of my head._ He thought to himself as he looked out of the window of the plane from his **FIRST CLASS SEAT**, _What was it about those guys that actually scared Tony 'I do not care about anyone but myself' Harris into actually being polite to those suits?_

After all it had been a pretty constant trend for as long as he could remember that Tony Harris barely knew what polite meant much less tried to follow the definition with others. The majority of the time he was an abusive, vulgar and drunken slob who looked out for number one. Yet the moment the door opened and those three suits came in not only had the elder Harris gone pale but he'd also tripped over himself trying to be polite and courteous to them. Of course the big shots had to respond with equal politeness but he could see in their eyes that they were disgusted with having to enter such a squalid home and speak with such an unkempt person. However throughout the entire time they were there Tony looked as though he would soil himself the moment these three men gave the impression they were even the slightest bit displeased. As for him he didn't care who these guys were and while he too was a bit wary of them he had shown quite little restraint when they started talking about him being a part of the student exchange thing taking place in a few months at the high school. Apparently the head of some Japanese company was interested in participating in this event and had selected one Alexander LaVelle Harris as the student he would like to have in his home.

_Apparently someone forgot to tell Mr. Bigshot that you don't get to choose who you get!_ He thought sourly as he remembered how pompous and presuming they were considering whether or not he'd go with them.

That was exactly what he told them but instead of getting upset at his words the lead man simply took out a sheaf of papers and handed them to the angry teen. Opening them up he found they were letters of authorization or something from the local school board, the city and Snyder giving them permission to do exactly that. To tilt the odds even further in their favour the lead suit claimed that given Sunnydale's dangerous 'nightlife' agreeing to the trip would be to his advantage. Mr. Smooth, as he had come to call the lead goon, stated that while staying at his employer's home he would be attending Todoh academy that apparently was some sort of martial arts school. Mr. Smooth further elaborated by saying that the academy had been founded with the intention of preserving the various combat styles of Japan and passing them onto the next generation. From using spears to katanas to the most powerful forms of hand-to-hand combat were taught there and if he agreed to come with them he would be instructed like any other student. This actually made the Xan-man pause since learning such skills would definitely be of some assistance to Buffy and the others when he got back. He had been able to and still could picture himself fighting vamps and demons with these new skills and maybe even attracting the romantic attention of his hero Buffy. After all as far as he was concerned the only area that Deadboy surpassed him at was fighting skills and once that advantage was taken away he just might have a shot at the Slayer's heart. So with wariness still in his heart he finally agreed to Mr. Smooth's proposal with the stipulation that he would be given time to pack as well as say his goodbyes to his friends. The 'cat that ate the canary' smile and the oily smile the suit gave him while agreeing to his terms had been enough to make him want to take a shower immediately but he repressed the feeling and went to his room to start packing.

Two days later he'd been driven to the L.A airport that brought him to where he was right now and already he was beginning to get a seriously bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Well there and for some reason he was developing a serious headache right behind the eyes that he'd already taken two Tylenol for soon after take off. The pills had taken some of the edge off of the throbbing behind his eye sockets but it was still firmly there and didn't look like it'd be going anywhere anytime soon.

_Well as long as no one makes it any worse I can deal with it while I'm in Japan._ He thought to himself as he pressed the button to summon the stewardess so he could get a Twinkie pack or two.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A House in Poor Condition Inside a City's Residential District 

"Souichiro's training proceeds apace." Says the blonde woman whose left eye is covered with an elaborate eye-patch.

"Indeed. Despite his initial reluctance to have anything to do with me due to the coloured retelling of the events of two years ago by Maya Natsume and Bunshichi told him." Dougen Takayangi says in agreement sitting across from the woman with two cups of tea and a freshly brewed pot between them, "However I believe so long as we do nothing to further offend his sensibilities he should remain willing to side with us against my son Mitsuomi. All proceeds precisely as we have planned it."

Indeed things could not be proceeding smoother and within a few weeks the members of the Juuken Club would face the current Executive Council and defeat them soundly convinced that they were striking down a corrupt regime with themselves as the heroes. Dougen almost had to laugh at the naivety of the teenagers and the roles they took upon themselves but he kept his amusement internal rather than voice it. The truth of the matter was that Souichiro Nagi, Bob Makihara, Maya Natsume, Aya Natsume and his younger son Masataka were only tools to him now. Tools to be used to return the old order to power and restore things to where they had been before his traitor of a son Mitsuomi had taken over. Once that was accomplished he could further increase Souichiro's skills and abilities and finally have the ultimate martial artist he had sought for so long. He would be without peer and be capable of defeating any evil pitted against him no matter how powerful. Of course what the 'evil' would be would be designated by him and the other family heads and after being properly spun the information would be passed on to his ultimate warrior. It would be the beginning of a glorious age in which the warriors of Japan would rise in power to become a force all their own in the world. Even the various demon clans and organizations would have to respect them for what garnered respect more among the inhuman than power itself.

"Do not get ahead of yourself Dougen." Makiko said sitting across from him with her expression unchanging, "If the events of two years ago taught us anything it was that nothing is for certain and that even the best of plans can go awry if one is not watchful."

"The incident with Shin Natsume two years ago was troublesome but it was resolved to my satisfaction and now that Souichiro is coming into his powers the final thorn from that time will soon be plucked." Dougen said with a respectful yet dismissive voice, "Still it might prove useful to keep a closer watch on the players of our little drama to make sure that they fulfill their roles properly."

"I am afraid that that may no longer be a precaution but a necessity now Master Dougen." Came the voice of an obviously troubled yet composed suit wearing man who had just entered the room.

"What troubles you Agent Sagara?" Dougen asked with an eyebrow raised in interest considering how unflappable the agent usually was.

"As per your standing orders sir my team has been keeping a close watch on your oldest son's activities and investigating their possible ramifications thoroughly." Agent Sagara replied as he knelt down a respectful distance from his employer, "Four days ago three of Mitsuomi's men left the country on a plane for America sir. No member of the Executive Council was with them and for a time we could not determine the reason for this action. However early this morning the three men returned with another, an American from his style of dress, and took him to the family estate in a limo. We took several pictures of the unknown teenager and sent them to our contact in the American embassy. The results were… disturbing… to say the least sir."

With that the agent removed a thick sheaf of papers from his jacket and respectfully passed them to Dougen for his inspection. This only piqued his interest even more since only a few select times before had he seen the agent behaving so contrary to his usual self. Unfolding the papers the first sheet he looked at was a basic listing of a person's characteristics such as name, gender, age, etcetera, etcetera but he didn't get past the part which stated the now identified teen's name because that alone was enough to stun him. Alexander LaVelle Harris. With a quick and efficient flurry he read the rest of the information focusing on such things as the young man's address and personal history as well as who the 'parents' were. By the time he was done the playing field between him and his oldest son had shifted significantly and much like Makiko had warned a single element had been introduced that could ruin his plans sooner rather than later. Even he could not repress the shudder in his body as he recalled the events at the corporate labs thirteen years ago and cursed his son Mitsuomi for opening this Pandora's box. While he was not one to normally admit failure the experiment of fifteen years ago was most definitely something that could not be considered a success. The lives of all those that had died would not allow him to call it anything but an unmitigated failure. Only Makiko's desperate pleading had kept him from terminating the boy the moment his role in that bloodbath had been ascertained. Instead he had been content with sending the boy to the one place on the planet where his abilities and power might be nullified to an acceptable level. The Hellmouth residing in Sunnydale, California, USA had been that place and for the past decade and a half the boy had been in the care of foster parents specifically chosen to quash any attempts at learning how to fight.

_However it seems that now more than ever the past is returning to exact its vengeance on me._ He thought before saying, "Intensify surveillance of Mitsuomi and the Executive Council of the academy. Report any unusual occurrences connected to the new arrival and have a sharpshooter assigned to each surveillance team. If the situation becomes unmanageable they are to terminate the arrival with extreme prejudice."

"Understood sir." Declares Agent Sagara as he bows respectfully before standing up and walking professionally from the room.

"What is the matter Dougen?" Makiko asked becoming unsettled by the atypical behaviour being exhibited by both Sagara and Dougen.

"A prodigal son of the past has come back Makiko." Dougen replied as he passes the papers Sagara had brought to her so that she can read their contents for herself, "Called home by a foolish child I once considered to be my crowning achievement."

Watching the scarred woman read the papers he could tell the exact moment when she had read the teenage American's name and knew why her eyes were now filled with a mix of fear and anticipation. Events were now in motion that could wash away everything, both his plans as well as those plans concocted by his eldest son Mitsuomi, leaving him with the desire to pray harder than anyone that he could in some way limit the chaos that would overtake them all.

_Mitsuomi, my son, you know not what you have done!_ He thought angrily as the various mistakes he had made with his eldest son filled his mind.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

One Week Later, Todoh Academy, Just Outside the Men's Locker Room 

"I keep you waiting long Tsukiko?" Xander asked as the door to the Men's locker room swung closed behind him.

"Not at all Xander-kun. Though I still say you overreacted before." Tsukiko replied as she latched onto his arm and leaned into him.

"Sorry about yelling at you back there but back where I'm from having someone **unexpectedly** join you while your showering is a **bit** out of the ordinary." He replied with his trademarked lopsided grin as the two of them began walking, "Especially if it's the shower in **Men's Locker Room**."

"Don't tell me you were worried that some of the other guys might have come in and ask if they could join in?" Tsukiko asked playfully with much mischief in her eyes.

"More like I didn't want anyone else to get a look at your beautiful body." He replied with the same amount of playfulness, "I want to keep that all to myself."

Tsukiko laughed at his corny line but instead of feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable he could only smile and relish the feelings her voice inspired in him. Had someone told him over a week ago that he would have fallen this hard for someone he barely knew he would have called them idiots and walked away. But fallen he had, from the first moment he had met her in the hallway his third day at the Todoh academy, and now the two of them could only be separated if they were willing to be separated. Well, perhaps 'met' might have been a bit strong, considering it was more like she had come running around a corner and crashed into him. While it had resulted in him being flat on his back in a position reminiscent of the first time he'd seen Buffy he at least had the compensation of having her fall down as well and on top of him to boot. After they had untangled their limbs and gotten back to their feet he had offered to buy her lunch at the cafeteria to make up for knocking her down. From there one thing had led to another and before he knew it life felt meaningless unless she was there by his side. It was such an intense feeling that it made his one time crush on Buffy Summers seem like a flight of fancy by comparison. It did bring up some troubling feelings about how things would go when his time in Japan came to an end but he quickly shoved those thoughts aside preferring to bask in her presence instead of dwell on such things.

"Well you don't have to worry about that nushi. The only people here are the summer students and a few of the clubs training for the upcoming tournament." Tsukiko stated with a dazzling smile, "Besides the guys at this school know all too well what happens to men who upset me."

_No shit!_ He thought as he recalled what happened when one of the more senior students tried to hit on her and then rough her up when she shot him down.

You see Tsukiko, while not a senior student at the academy, was a member of the Kunoichi club at the academy and was considered to be the one to succeed Emi Izuzu when the member of the Executive Council graduated. As such she was skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as the use of daggers, kunai and other blades whether they be used for short range or long range attacks. So for the offending guy to quickly find himself face down on the ground with a kunai pinning his right hand to the floor was not all that surprising. From that moment on the male population of Todoh academy knew that Tsukiko Kamiya was officially off the dating market and would be at least until the teenage 'gaijin' she was usually seen with had left. So she had a point when she claimed that none of the guys would dare to do anything to make her mad at them.

The smart ones at least would know better.

The more mentally challenged though would likely crop up from time to time.

He pitied those types.

"Stop right there Kamiya!" bellowed a familiar and enraged voice from behind them.

Turning around neither he, nor from what he could tell Tsukiko, were happy to find the jerk from the cafeteria incident standing almost at the other end of the hallway with four of his cronies behind him. He had learned from his new love that the guy's name was Kuno Roshi and according to her he was second in command in the second kenjutsu club at the academy. Apparently the guy considered himself to be quite the ladies man and always walked around like the rest of the students should feel lucky to be in his presence. In short he was an arrogant prick that actually made Cordy at her worst look polite when he walked around the academy. As such Xander felt almost immediately annoyed whenever he saw the asshole much less heard him speak and he doubted Tsukiko felt any different.

"What do you want Kuno-baka?" Tsukiko asked while her right hand drifted to a pocket holster where she kept a stash of kunai for emergencies, "Didn't you get the message the last time?"

"Oh I understood the message completely however there is something that you apparently fail to understand." Kuno said beginning with a pleasant voice before lethal intent began to seep into his words, "I am Kuno Roshi, second in command of the second kenjutsu club of Todoh academy, and no one whether they be man or woman may defy me without paying the price! Prepare yourself Kamiya!"

With that Kuno plus his four cronies charged forward with their bokkens raised in preparation to deliver what was no doubt intended to be crushing blows to their targets. Unfortunately for those idiots they didn't take into account that Tsukiko could attack them a lot sooner than they could attack her and so six kunai were soon sent flying towards the five kenjutsu students. Three of the blades managed to hit their targets with two hitting one of the goons in the shoulder with the third striking another in the stomach. The remaining three kunai were either dodged or blocked leaving Kuno and two of his subordinates still on approach with their desire to inflict pain only strengthened with the felling of their two comrades. With a limited amount of kunai left in her holster he saw Tsukiko take out two before falling into a defensive stance in preparation for the arrival of her enemies. Slipping into a hand-to-hand combat stance of his own he did his best to prepare himself as well since he doubted that the jackasses would leave him alone. However he would be lying if he said that he was overflowing with confidence in his abilities since it had only been a week since he had started training under his benefactor Mitsuomi Takayanagi. True the man had been an absolute tyrant as an instructor, not letting Xander leave until he had executed each technique flawlessly, but the Xan-man couldn't argue with the results. In just one week he was easily three times the fighter he'd been back in Sunnydale and given that it would be a little over two months before he'd return home he had no doubt he'd be able to dazzle the gang with the new improved Xander. For now though the issue of survival took priority as he steeled himself for the coming conflict determined to give at least as good as he got.

He got his first real taste of battle ten seconds later when the goon to the right of Kuno thrust his bokken forward in an attempt to strike the young Harris' stomach. Fortunately one of the most basic evasion techniques Mitsuomi had taught him allowed him to dodge it as well as give him a chance to get in close. Darting in he used his right hand to slide the thug's arms aside exposing the body and allowing him to deliver a strong blow with the heel of his left hand right to the guy's ribs. While not having the dramatic effect of the idiot keeling right over he could tell as the fool retreated backwards a bit that some damage had definitely been done. Maybe a cracked rib or at least some serious bruising now existed on and around the spot where he'd struck so hopefully it would limit the kenjutsu student's movements some. Invigorated by this small victory the uncertainty he had felt before began to fade away and the possibility of beating these guys no longer seemed so slim.

Back and forth the battle between he and his opponent went and while he could not see from his position how Tsukiko was doing the screams of pain from her enemies was enough to let him know she was inflicting some serious pain. He had no doubt that when he finally managed to finish off his one opponent he'd turn to find his new love leaning against the wall waiting patiently for him to finish with the bodies of her adversaries spread out on the floor before her. After all she had been training at this for much longer than him and had probably been given a toy kunai to play with as a child. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd be the one limping to the academy infirmary when this was over with Tsukiko sitting next to his bed with not a scratch on her.

A barely dodged vertical slash from his sparring partner brought him back to the here and now forcing him to put any thoughts of the post battle recovery aside until the fight was actually over. Blows were struck and blocked for the next several minutes between him and his enemy with the weird buzz cut until finally a prime opening appeared allowing him to deliver a strong thrust kick to the man's stomach. Unable to stop himself from smiling as the goon stumbled backwards hunched over he wondered just how much longer it would be before he would finish this guy off and get out of here with his ninja girl. It was then, as if some dark being had heard his thoughts, that a scream of pain that most certainly had come from his lady love cut through the air instinctively causing him to turn around to see what was going on. What he saw sent shock, fear and anger surging through him as he saw his girl fall to the ground in front of a newcomer wielding a steel pipe. It took him half a second to clue into what must have happened and it caused anger to be the dominant emotion inside of him in an instant. Completely forgetting Mr. Buzz Cut he ran as quick as he could to close the distance between him and the circle of kenjutsu students surrounding the one who had claimed his heart.

"Get away from her!!" he yelled as he brought his right hand back with the intention of laying out the first person to get in his way.

In response to his yell Kuno turned around and almost sneered in contempt before bringing his bokken up in front of him. Deciding that that could actually be a good thing since it might end the fight quicker if he kicked the leader's butt in front of the lower ranked members. Darting to the left and then to the right to fake out his opponent he surged forward to deliver a devastating blow to the prick's chest with the intention of seriously messing up his ability to breath. However just as it looked as though the blow would connect an unyielding and pain inducing object slammed down into his back sending him crashing to the floor and even skidding a bit as his momentum was worn out. His back still singing with pain he nevertheless forced his body to start getting back up but only got as far as his hands and knees before he was struck twice more with one of the blows being from something distinctly more unyielding than wood.

"Do yourself a favour gaijin and stay down!" Kuno ordered with anger and authority, "Personally I couldn't care less about a foreign dog like you. All that matters to me now is pounding some respect into this bitch for humiliating me in the cafeteria! So just stay there and watch the show!"

Pushing himself up enough so that he could actually see what was going on he saw that two newcomers had Tsukiko on her feet with their muscled arms wrapped around each of her arms. While looking a little bruised he could tell she had plenty of fight left in her and only needed to free herself from her captors before resuming laying the smacketh down on their asses. He could see her straining to pull her arms free but the two gorillas had a firm grip that would have to be loosened some before anything could be done.

"You know Tsukiko I really hate having to do this to such a prime example of female ferocity and I'd actually be quite willing to forgive you for before if you'd just agree to be my girl." Kuno said in a tone usually reserved for speaking to the truly defeated, "Don't you see how lucky you could be? The absolute best looking and most skilled student at Todoh academy is willing to let you to stand by his side yet you persist in defying me. Why?"

"Gee Kuno, how should I put this?" Tsukiko asked rhetorically as she made a show of thinking, "Maybe because I **know** your bokken is just compensation for something decidedly **smaller** and that the only reason you're passing your classes is because of your after school 'sessions' with the teachers. What do you think?"

_Nice but so not the right thing to say when you're not in a position to back it up!_ Xander thought with pride at his maybe-girlfriend's reply.

The Xan-man's opinion was proven to be accurate when less than five seconds later when Kuno slammed his bokken across Tsukiko's jaw before thrusting it into her stomach. Knowing what was coming he tried to get to his feet as quickly as he could but the two morons that Roshi had assigned to him only forced him back down with multiple strikes. Hearing his love struggle to remind her lungs how to take in air only drove him all the harder as he continued to try and get to his feet.

"Fine! You know I was going to give you a second chance Kamiya but if you're going to be like this then I'll just have to settle for making an example out of you." Kuno said with no mercy left in his voice, "An example to all the girls of this academy of what happens to those that reject me!"

Catching glimpses of what was going in between the blows that forced him to close his eyes in pain he saw Kuno tear Tsukiko's shirt open bearing her bra covered chest for all to see. Fear thrummed through him as he realised what would most likely take place if he didn't get in there causing his movements to take on a more frantic nature. Again and again he watched Kuno strike the woman who had captured his heart with his bokken and just as though the area was bathed in a strobe light's glow he watched bruises and blood begin to appear on her once flawless body. Each blow he saw land on her sent a searing level of emotional pain through him and each time he wondered how much longer he could endure this suffering before he just lost it.

As it turned out he did not have to wait long at all.

Almost as if in answer to his rising surges of rage he felt a power he had never experienced before surge through him and all at once his perceptions of the world around him began to change. With a metaphorical flicking of some internal switch he was changed and it was a change that others on the school grounds felt as well though not all knew what it meant.

A few did though.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Executive Council Meeting Room, Same Time 

"What the hell is **THAT**!?" Bunshichi Tawara exclaimed as an aura of potent lethal intent blew over him yanking his attention away from the hentai books he was flipping through.

"Open your senses more and I think you'll be able to answer that question yourself Bunshichi." Replied the president of the Executive Council as he stood up and out of his chair, "Isuzu, assemble the other members of the Council and head towards the source of this aura. Bunshichi and I will go there now and attempt to prevent any fatalities."

"Fatalities? What do you--?" Tawara asked momentarily confused as to what his friend meant until he did as Mitsuomi suggest and truly **felt** the aura, "No! It can't be!"

"I am afraid it is exactly what you believe it to be." Mitsuomi stated at the door before turning to face Bunshichi, "Now come along. We have to get there before matters get too far out of hand."

Tawara didn't need to be told what that meant as he was quite familiar with what could potentially happen when someone with **that** ability cut loose.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Juuken Club House, Same Time 

"NO! It can't be!" Maya exclaimed as she looked at her sister Aya and then turned her head to look in the direction of the deadly aura that had slammed into her senses moments ago.

It had been a fairly routine day of training for the members of the Juuken club with her working with Souichiro to improve his control and skill with his developing abilities. All of the members were progressing nicely and she had absolute confidence that when the tournament began they would have no trouble making it to the finals and defeating the Executive Council. Souichiro had already shown that he had the power as well as the speed to match Mitsuomi so all that he needed was the skill and stamina. That would come from her since he was pretty much a brawler in terms of style otherwise and such moves would not work with the eldest Takayangi son.

However all training came to a halt when the lethal aura had passed through the building stopping just about everyone in their tracks since even the densest of them could sense that something was wrong. However she herself was completely at a loss to explain what she was feeling right then since to her knowledge there was only one person still alive that could use that ability. Looking back to her sister one more time to confirm that it wasn't Aya she was feeling she took off for the front doors not bothering to explain anything to anyone. In the back of her mind she knew it wasn't necessary to say anything since they would all likely follow her regardless both for answers concerning her abrupt departure and the aura they were sensing. All that mattered to her right then was getting to the source of the bloodlust she was sensing before the halls of the academy were painted red with blood.

_Please don't let it happen again!_ She prayed as she used every trick she knew as well as every shortcut to get to her destination as quickly as possible.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Back in the Hallway Outside the Men's Locker Room, Ten Seconds Later 

To say that Tsukiko Kamiya was not having a good time would have been an understatement as pain from a cracked rib made breathing painful and one of her eyes was almost completely swollen shut. She was no stranger to fighting and knew how to take her lumps but the fact that she was unable to strike back was more than a little unfair as far as she was concerned. She knew that in a fair fight she could take Kuno down without even breaking a sweat but apparently the lieutenant of the second kenjutsu club knew that as well hence the hired goon squad restraining her. Since the first moment she'd been grabbed she had been trying every trick she knew to free herself and turn the fight around but obviously these thugs had done their homework. They had probably studied up as best they could on ninja escape techniques and maybe even paid off a member of her own club to show them how to properly restrain her. She knew she had no few enemies in the club who wanted to be Isuzu's successor instead of her but she never realized that they hated her this much. Depending on how well her fellow club members had taught these gorillas she might not be able to break free and that would mean more pain for not only her but also Xander.

She had seen the way he had charged in to save her and had tried to shout out a warning to stay out of the fight but had been cut off by a blow from Kuno. She knew, knew in her heart, that there was nothing her lover wouldn't do to save her and as much as it was a new experience for her she felt the same. Love at first sight. Ask her about it a year ago and she would have told you that it was nothing more than a plot device for some cheap romance novel. However that is how it had been for her when she had slammed into him in her rush to get to her club meeting on time. She had raised her gaze up the chest of the man she had landed on with the intent of giving him a serious piece of her mind and frozen when her eyes locked onto Xander's. After a moment of awkwardness they had both gotten up and she had been so swept away by the new feeling she was having that she completely forgot about the meeting when the unknown gaijin had offered to buy her a meal from the cafeteria. It had been the start of something big and had only grown with each passing moment that they spent with each other until just being with him improved her mood considerably. Now though she wanted nothing more than for Kuno and his goons to stop hurting Xander and was almost willing to give into the bastard's demands except she knew her lover would never want that. Each time her one good eye saw the two gorillas slam their weapons into the American's back though she was tempted to simply give in and wondered how much longer her resolve would last.

"AAAAHHHHHghkh…" came a scream of pain before it was abruptly cut off and replaced by a sound she doubted anyone heard outside of a horror film.

It is a sound though strong enough to stop everyone in their tracks and suck their attention in its direction with little or no delay. What she saw when her own undamaged eye locked onto the source shocked her and sent no few chills of fear down her spine. Standing up with a sadistic grin on his face was Xander but at the same time not the Xander she had come to know over the past few days. Sarcastically her mind remarked that it could have been the fact that to the right of Xander one of the goons that had been keeping him down was now impaled on his own steel rod to the point where the only reason he wasn't on the ground was because the rod had come out his back and gotten stuck in the concrete wall behind him. Another possibility was that the second thug that had been dealing out pain to the gaijin was curled up on the ground coughing up blood and looking like he was in need of serious medical attention. In the end though she concluded the reasons why she had a hard time recognising Xander was a) because his hair was temporarily changing colours in waves with the alternate colour being light purple and b) the crimson eyes with black slits in the centre that now looked her way. She didn't know what they were but she could not bring herself to look directly at them for any length of time resulting in her looking at Xander's chest instead.

"Hanya!! Enishi!!" Kuno exclaimed looking at the carnage before him in shock, "Bastard! You'll die for that gaijin!"

"I think you have **me** confused with **you** and your **posse** here asshole." Xander said in a voice devoid of compassion yet tinged with an almost playful malevolence, "You should have just taken Tsukiko's hint in the cafeteria. Your pride might have taken a hit but at least you'd still have your whole life ahead of you. Not anymore though."

She could tell that Xander's words were producing spikes of fear in Kuno's posse as well as Roshi himself because she too couldn't help but fear the person her lover had changed into. Gone was the kind and goofy young man she had come to love and in his place was some kind of demon that would kill all that dared stand in its way. Then, just as that thought crossed her mind, her American love ran forward appearing to completely ignore the weapons Kuno and his gang still had. Four members of the kenjutsu club besides the two that held her and Kuno charged forward still possessing enough confidence in their positions to go on the offensive. That confidence was shatter along with their bodies inside of five seconds as Xander disarmed and defeated them with complete ease. The first had his bokken grabbed in mid-strike before receiving a roundhouse kick to the chest sending him crashing through the window to the ground two floors below. The second, distracted by the ease at which the first had been defeated, was defeated when after a quick adjustment on the grip Xander had on the bokken the wooden weapon slammed into the second goon's throat crushing his larynx. Almost casually the American who she loved caught the second goon's bokken before it could hit the ground and thrust both of the weapons he now possessed into the third thug's stomach. This sent the moron flying back into the fourth taking the last member of the attack group for a ride as the force of the initial blow carried them both down the hall and into the wall.

Seeing this the two goons that had been holding her decided to do something smart for the first time in their lives and immediately let her go before running for their lives in the direction opposite the one that Xander was in. They made it five steps before the two bokkens that had been in the gaijin's hands flew through the air and struck them in the back of their necks with a resounding crack of bone. Assaulted by both her newfound need to support herself on her own and what she was witnessing she was unable to stop herself from dropping to her knees in shock. Only she and Kuno were still in relatively good condition with the latter looking like he was going to piss himself in fear at any moment.

"P-please! Don't k-kill me man! PLEASE! Don't kill me!" Kuno begged frantically as he dropped his bokken to the ground and shakily backed away from the demon in front of him.

"What's the matter Kuno? Not such an arrogant prick without your goon squad to back you up?" Xander asked with contempt as he slowly walked forward, "You know guys like you really piss me off! You think you're so much better than everyone else but when your ass is on the line you turn into spineless cowards! I think it's time that someone finally made you pay that tab your mouth has been racking up Kuno."

Before the lieutenant of the second kenjutsu club could even move the gaijin crossed the distance between them and thrust his right knee deep into Kuno's gut. It almost seemed comical in appearance to Tsukiko since it looked so much like something from the cartoons she'd watched as a kid. However it was all to real and as Xander laid into Roshi with kick after punch after kick with the kenjutsu student completely helpless. Eventually though it looked as though Xander was ready to end it all as he grabbed the fool by his shirt and slammed him into a wall. However whatever relief she might have felt at the carnage finally ending vanished as she watched Xander bring back his right arm and close his fist with the exception of his middle and index fingers. For a moment she was puzzled at what her love intended to do but when she looked along the path she expected them to travel the intent became clear. He intended to stab out Kuno's eyes with his fingers and permanently blind him ending his life as a kenjutsu student.

It was that shocking realization that finally brought her back to herself and she knew that unless she did something right then and there Xander would be trapped walking down a dark path he would not return from. Watching as her love's right hand began to move forward she almost distantly heard her own voice cry out for him to stop and almost instantly the limb stopped in its tracks. However before she could bask in the relief that her words had reached her love a form clad in blue shot passed her and delivered a thunderous punch at Xander's side. As if shot from a cannon the American flew down the hall until he impacted on the same wall that he had sent two kenjutsu students into a minute ago. It was then that she recognised the surprise combatant as the president of the Executive Council of Todoh academy Mitsuomi Takayanagi.

"That's quit enough Alexander. I'm not sure what Kuno did to provoke you but I think he's learned his lesson." Mitsuomi stated in icy solid tones.

"Yeah? Well maybe I'm not through teaching him his lesson." Xander said in that playfully malevolent voice Tsukiko was coming to dread hearing from him.

"Look, kid, you beat the crap out of his posse and Kuno looks like he'll be in the hospital for at least a month." Came the voice of Bunshichi Tawara as he stepped up beside her, "Why don't you leave it at that alright? Don't make us have to hurt you kid."

"Like you hurt your 'friend' Shin Natsume Bunshichi?" Xander asked viciously as his playfully hostile grin grew into an evil smile, "You and I both know that if that fool hadn't killed himself you never would have beat him. You'd be the ones lying six feet under right now instead of him!!"

"So it's true then. You're Dragon Eyes have awoken." Mitsuomi stated calmly as though he were in no danger at all.

"Yep! You'd be amazed at what I know about the two of you now." Xander declared with pride and confidence, "In fact now that you're here I'm kinda interested to see who'd win between the three of us. Howsabout we fight it out right here and now? If you win I'll let you cart me off to where ever but if I win you take orders from me 'til I leave this fall."

"Challenge accepted." Was all Mitsuomi said before dashing forward at a speed Tsukiko didn't know was possible for a human being.

For a moment it looked like they might be evenly matched but the moment the two of them closed to striking distance the difference between them was quickly made apparent.

"Ryuukei Qigong – Tashinkou!" declared Mitsuomi fiercely and with a combination of ki and air pressure he slammed a powerful punch right into Xander's chest.

It was unlike anything Tsukiko had ever seen before and with shock she watched as the back of her love's shirt exploded outwards both on the front as well as on the back on the other side. For the space of several minutes she, Bunshichi and perhaps even President Mitsuomi waited for the gaijin to drop to the ground unconscious. However they were all shocked when instead of dropping to the ground Xander clamped down on the arm that had struck the blow as if nothing had happened. When her lover's head rose she almost turned away as those blood red eyes that seemed to shine even brighter now became visible. However the sight of the blood trickling from his mouth caused her concern and love for him to override her fear of his eyes. She knew that Mitsuomi's blow had to have done some serious damage to cause blood to flow from Xander's mouth like that yet her love didn't seem to care. More than ever he seemed to be eager for battle and she had no doubt it would lead to his death unless someone brought him back to his senses. Thankfully it was then that her wish was answered with something other than violence leaving her forever in the debt of the Natsume family.

"Mitsuomi! What happened here?!" asked Maya Natsume fiercely as she took in the carnage arrayed up and down the hallway as well as who therein was still conscious.

Before the president of the Executive Council could reply though Xander looked over the shoulder of his adversary and locked eyes with the elder Natsume sister. For a moment both were frozen in place half with recognition and half with shock with only the two of them really knowing why. However the rest of them were given a clue when for two seconds Xander's hair completely turned that light purple colour that had only flowed temporarily into existence across his head before.

"Little sister?" came the whisper from Xander's lips before like a puppet with its strings cut he collapsed unconscious in Mitsuomi's arms.

With the exception of Mitsuomi these words only reinforced the shock within them all and it was only when the eldest Takayanagi brother began to walk away from the battlefield that Tsukiko found her voice.

"Where are you taking him? What happened to him?" she asked almost pleading with him to answer her.

"I am taking him to the academy infirmary where he can be attended to Ms. Kamiya." Mitsuomi replied turning his head slightly in her direction, "As for what happened to him that can wait until you both have had your wounds treated. Bunshichi pick her up please and follow me to the infirmary."

For a moment Tsukiko was going to object to this as every girl in the academy was aware of Bunshichi's penchant for seeing women as nothing more than a set of tits with legs. However much to her surprise there was no lechery on the advisor's face, no sick looks, just a haunted look that seemed completely out of place on his face. Unsure of how to take this she remained quiet.

"Mitsuomi! You haven't answered my question!" yelled Maya Natsume having managed to recover her voice, "Who is he?"

Follow me to the infirmary Maya and I'll do my best to explain." Mitsuomi replied with little or no hesitation, "In fact it is probably best that you do hear it now so that I will not have to repeat myself later."

With only a nod the procession consisting of Mitsuomi, Xander, Bunshichi, herself and the entire Juuken club began to walk towards the academy infirmary where both medical assistance and answers lay waiting.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Todoh Academy, Infirmary, Half an Hour Later 

"The ambulances have arrived? Good. Make sure they keep this quiet and that every effort is to be made to preserve the lives of the kenjutsu students." Mitsuomi said into his cell phone, "Keep me informed Isuzu."

Watching her ex-love end the call and shut his cell phone Maya could stand the suspense no more.

"I think its time you started explaining all this Mitsuomi." She demanded in a tone that would not be denied, "Who is this young man and why does he have Dragon eyes?"

"The short answer Maya would be that he is your half-brother." Mitsuomi replied as though he was giving a report on the contents of a dictionary.

"What?!" she exclaimed in shock as her former boyfriend's reply knocked her for a loop.

"Impossible!" Aya yelled in denial as she was only slightly less in shock than her sister.

"What are you trying to pull Mitsuomi?" demanded Souichiro looking like he didn't buy a word of it.

"I assure you I am being completely honest. In fact I was the one who ordered that he be brought here from America." Mitsuomi replied as he elaborated on his first answer, "You see ever since I took over the family estate I have been reviewing my father's files and about two weeks ago came across one concerning Alexander."

"Apparently around fifteen years ago, during the early days of my father's search for the ultimate martial artist, he began a project with the intention of combining the most powerful family techniques or abilities into a single individual." Mitsuomi explained as he condensed what he found before delivering it to the others, "The project started in small steps, first attempting to combine the traits of two families, to see if it was even possible. They partnered men and women from the various head families and persuaded them to make love in order to produce a child. Your father was apparently one of the participants Maya."

"You're lying!! My father would never participate in something so disgusting!" Maya exclaimed in denial while internally thinking, _He has to be lying! He just has to be!_

"If you want I can have the records and other materials dropped off at your home and you can review it yourself Maya." Mitsuomi stated firmly as though he was actually annoyed at being interrupted, "In any case I've already had my geneticists confirm the information in the records with a DNA test. He is of the Natsume family."

"If Maya's father was involved then who was he paired with?" Souichiro asked trapped between his own interest in learning more and his knowing how it would affect the Natsume sisters.

"Unfortunately it appears that that portion of the record was damaged at some point in the past. It took some of my specialists five days to reconstruct enough to confirm the involvement of Kaima Natsume's involvement." Replied the eldest Takayanagi brother coldly, "It is possible with more time a sufficient amount of the remaining record could be recovered and restored to determine who the mother was but for now it is a fact that Alexander LaVelle Harris is yours and Aya's half-brother Maya."

To this Maya could only look over at the unconscious form of the American in the bed at the far end of the infirmary and wonder 'could it be true'. As she looked at Tsukiko Kamiya sitting next to the bedridden young man clutching his hand she could not help but flash back to the last thing this Alexander had said before falling unconscious. He had called her sister and for a moment or two had the same coloured hair as her dead brother Shin which had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. She did not want to believe the information Mitsuomi had just given her, did not want to believe that her father could have been a part of something so monstrous, but the crimson eyes Alexander had looked at her with could not be denied. Those red eyes were Dragon Eyes and in combination with the light purple hair the gaijin's connection to her family, the Natsume family, could not be casually dismissed if denied at all. What would she say to him when he awoke? How would he react when he learned that he was the result of an experiment to create the ultimate warrior? She had no answers to these questions only a promise that she swore to herself and all those that could hear her thoughts.

She would not let history repeat itself.

She would not let another brother be driven insane and then to death.

Not while she lived.

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Note 2: This is to address the question I know you're all asking right now which is 'if Xander really was a member of the Natsume family then why did it take so long to manifest?' or some variant of that. There are several possible answers that I've come up with but have yet to chose: One is the Hellmouth itself kept it from manifesting. Almost as soon as Xander arrived in Sunnydale he could sense with his young ki sensing abilities that something was wrong about the town and maybe even a threat to him. Thus he either consciously or unconsciously used his ki to protect himself from the hellmouthy energies resulting in the bulk of the energy that might have gone to enhancing his fighting abilities or perhaps activating his Dragon Eyes to going towards something else. As for why his hair remained black/brown instead of the trademark violent/light purple color like Shine and Maya's I propose it was because some of the demonic energy of the hellmouth managed to make it past his ki defenses resulting in the change in hair color. So basically a combination of defending against the energies of the hellmouth and the mystical convergence's taint is why Xander did not exhibit any unusual characteristics.

At least that is how I have it laid out in my head at the moment. If any of you readers can come up with a more convincing or thorough line of reasoning please tell me and if I like it I'll adopt it should this drabble/short make it to full fledged fanfic status.

It was basically a plot bunny I just had to get out of my head after watching the entire series so I hope you like it.


	13. Fate Stay Forever

"Fate Stay Forever"

Fate Stay Night/BtVS crossover YAHF

Note : Just finished watching the 'Fate Stay Night" Anime series and just had to write a drabble/short about it. Whether or not this plot bunny is a one shot kill or not depends on you the readers.

Ethan's Costume Shop, Halloween Day, Mid-Afternoon 

To say that the Xan-Man's day wasn't going very good would be quite a large understatement indeed.

First he wound up getting roped into being a chaperone to a bunch of tiny toddlers that would become ever more a pain in his ass as time went on since they'd be hyped up on sugar. Now normally he would never badmouth sweets of any kind since he was a big believer in the ability of Twinkies to brighten any day. However there was always a dark side to everything and in the case of sweets or junk food it was that in the wrong hands such delicacies could turn a pack of adorable kids into oversweet unholy terrors. Just imagining what his group of five or six year olds would likely do once they had sufficient Hershey bars and suckers in their tummies made him wish for apocalypse season to come early this year. Nevertheless he had decided that despite this torturous assignment he'd endure it for the sake of his friends who had also been forced to do it by Herr Snyder.

He should have known right then that the Harris luck wouldn't have given up so easily.

His next bit of doom and gloom came quickly on the heels of the first when an attempt by him to score some major manly points by standing up to Larry the Linebacker went completely FUBAR. The jock had approached him trying to get a feel for how asking Buffy out would go and had the nerve to imply that Buff' was an easy lay. Despite the knowledge that the football player could pound him into paste he had done his best to stand his ground and not back down. He had been about to say something chilly and warning filled, really, when the blonde girl he'd been trying to protect stepped in and slammed Larry into the soda machine. After the caveman had been scared off she hadn't had a clue as to how much she had damaged his rep by stepping in like that. HELL! She thought she had done him a favour! So naturally he had stormed off in a huff not trusting himself not to say something in anger that he would regret later. Eventually he managed to calm down and acknowledge that just as men would never completely understand what went on in the minds of women the opposite was also true. So he could forgive Buffy for not realizing that it is infinitely preferable for a guy to get the crap beat out of him than be saved by a girl that everyone thinks would have trouble lifting a stack of five phone books.

That of course led to the crowning achievement of his day that happened only a short while ago.

As a group they had all come down to the newly opened costume shop "Ethan's" to pick out their costumes in preparation for their forced assignment as 'guides' for groups of elementary students. He had been all ready to make up with his second bestest bud and was about to close the deal when fate intervened in the form of a frilly 17th century gown that was completely unappealing to him. Of course it had taken him less than a minute to clue into who, or in his opinion **what**, she had in mind when she had spotted the costume. From there on out she knew that trying to talk to Buffy much less reconcile with her would be impossible and that led him to where he was right now.

Combing the aisle of the costume shop for a costume that was not only in his price range but also might manage to pry the blonde Slayer's attention away from the animated corpse that currently accepted her affections. His first thought had been to dress as a soldier since he knew to find some surplus fatigues and would just need some cheap toy gun to complete the outfit. However he brushed that thought aside since he knew that a common soldier wouldn't even register on Buffy's 'potential-boyfriend' scanners much less put out enough of a signal to drag her attention away from Angel. He needed something more unique, more mysterious and definitely more dashing than this 'dark avenger' routine that Deadboy had going. Letting his eyes pass over every costume as well as every odds and ends bin in the entire shop he looked for the things that would help him come up with something truly impressive. It was just when he was about to give up and accept that a soldier was the best he could hope for at the moment when his eyes fell upon an odd looking blood red jacket.

_It looks kind of familiar._ He thought as he walked up to the clothes rack it was on to examine it better.

Upon closer inspection he saw that it was not a jacket per se but rather two pieces of cloth that if the tailor had finished sewing the two piece together it might have been a weird trench coat or duster. Instead it was just two red sleeves connected by a white strap on the back and a white threat in the front as well as well as something like a waist cape connected in the front by another white strap. He almost discarded it with all the other costumes he'd considered when an image suddenly popped into his head letting him know exactly what the not-coat had reminded him of. At once his face lit up like a five year old's Christmas morning and he knew that he had found the costume for him. However his glee came to a crashing halt when he looked at the price tag on the not-coat as well as added on the likely cost of the other pieces and accessories he'd need. There was no way he'd be able to afford to be able to dress as the character that had briefly come into being in his mind.

"Is there something I can help you with young man?" asked a British voice from behind him.

In another time and another place he might have jumped up startled and reprimanded the black haired store employee for sneaking up on him like that. However his disappointment at having lost the perfect costume before he'd even had it caused him to simply turn around and face the man with a depressing look on his face.

"No I don't think so. I had this great idea for a costume but there's no way I'd be able to afford all the pieces I'd need." He replied like someone who had seen a delicious chocolate cake only to be forced to eat burnt toast with a single drop of honey on it.

"Well then pick out the costume paraphernalia you require for your ideal costume and I'll simply take what money you have to give." Stated the store employee with unwavering resolve, "Never let it be uttered that a customer left my store unhappy."

"Won't it kinda be bad for business selling these costumes for less than they're worth?" Xander asked not entirely willing to jump at the proverbial carrot just yet since there was a real possibility of a catch of some kind.

"Quite the opposite young sir. By letting word spread of my generosity with you more customers than before will flock here looking for great deals." The store employee said, "Even if they don't get them the mere fact that they walked in the door will tempt them to buy something simply so that the entire trip wasn't a waste. So as you can see allowing you to assemble your costume for less than it is actually worth can only help my business."

"Well, since you put it that way, give me five minutes and I'll meet you at the cash register!" Xander said with newfound hope as he grabbed the first piece of his costume off the rack and darted in the direction he'd find the next one.

Never once did he look back at the man who had made him such an odd deal. Perhaps it would have been better if he had for if he had seen the Brit's face just ten seconds later he would have spotted the smile of a trickster rather than a friendly shop keeper.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Summers Home, Half an Hour Before the Start of the Chaperoning Duties 

**Knock**knockknock

As Xander waited outside the front door of the Summers home he briefly adjusted the position of the two plastic Kan-Dao Chinese falchions he had tucked beneath the strap keeping his waist cape on him.

He had considered for a moment back in the store simply leaving the toy weapons behind but they were such an important part of the character's appearance that he had decided to get them. It had been a bit tricky finding a place to put them since the character he had dressed up as could make them appear and disappear at will thus not requiring sheathes of any type. So he had chosen to improvise as best he could to find a place for them and eventually settled on their present location. They'd probably fall out if he ran or did anything to jiggle them loose but hopefully he'd be able to keep his group of terrors under control. As he heard someone on the other side of the door begin to turn the doorknob he quickly did his best to get into character with a sarcastic grin and hopefully a cynical look in his eyes.

"Well hello Xander." Joyce said as she pulled the door open and got a good look at his costume, "You certainly picked out an interesting costume to wear."

"Hmph The name isn't Xander lady. You may call me Archer." He said carefully so as not to put too much sarcasm in his voice since offending Mrs. S was never a good idea, "I have come to meet with Elizabeth and Willow. Are they ready?"

Fortunately Lady Luck seemed willing to grant him some of her power since Joyce immediately understood that he was just 'in character' and didn't really intend to sound like such a jerk.

"They should be done in a moment." Joyce replied with amusement at the character the Harris teen was trying to emulate, "Buffy was just having a little trouble getting her dress on. Would you like to come in and wait for them?"

"Sure." He replied briefly as his mood soured slightly at the mention of the dress the blonde Slayer had purchased to impress her vamp boyfriend.

Knowing that his bad mood would only make the evening worse for his friends he did his best to disperse the negative emotions and put himself back into his usual upbeat mood. A few minutes later he heard the footsteps of someone upstairs approaching and looked up to behold a sight that **maybe** had him reassessing the merits of non-spandex materials.

"Buffy! Lady of Buffdom, Duchess of Buffonia, I am in awe! I completely renounce spandex!" he said being completely honest yet humorous with his words, "This humble Archer swears to serve you loyally for all time!"

"Why thank you kind sir." Buffy said before turning in the direction of the top of the stairs, "But wait 'til you see…"

Looking up in the same direction of the blonde Slayer he had to wonder what had the teenage girl so excited. However when he see a sheet covered person that was distinctly Willowy in height he was able to both understand what blonde bombshell had been expecting as well as what had happened instead. Obviously Buffy had tried to bring Willow out of her shell by getting her to dress up in something daring and perhaps sexy only to leave the redheaded genius by herself for more than a minute. Internally sighing at his bestest friend since pre-school once again passing up an opportunity to change he decided he'd best step in and keep everyone from dwelling on what would probably not change anytime soon.

"Hey, Will! That's a fine boo you got there." He said with a grin meant to dispel any doubts his friend might have had that she'd done the wrong thing.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A Street of Sunnydale, Night Time, One Minute After Ethan Cast His Spell 

"Ooooohhhh! Feel like I've just been hit by Berserker." Groaned Archer as he regained consciousness and his senses both human and Servant came back.

Getting to his feet he found himself in an unfamiliar neighbourhood with no idea how he had gotten there. Closing his eyes he attempted to centre himself, to reach deep into his memories and recall the last conscious memory he had before awakening here. He had accompanied his Master Rin Tosaka and the Servant Sabre to a castle in the woods owned by the Master of the Servant Berserker a.k.a Heracles in an effort to rescue Shirō Emiya who had foolishly been captured by the behemoth's Master. Personally he had thought it a waste of time for him and his Master but Rin had been adamant in her desire to rescue the pathetic Shiro. Stealth had been the key as they strove to enter the castle, find the captured Master and escape without having to confront either Berserker or his Master. It had been seemingly easy to conceal their mana and enter the castle undetected and that in retrospect should have been his first clue that something was amiss. As it turned out Illyasviel von Einzbern, Master to Berserker, had deceived them and had in fact been observing their progress from the moment they entered the castle proper. Confronted with the raw might of Berserker the choices he was dealt were not good at all as Sabre was too low on mana to fight and neither Rin or Shiro had sufficient power to defeat the giant. So in the end it had been left to him to bar Heracles' path in order to give the others enough time to put as much distance as possible between them and the enemies that threatened to take their lives.

It had been then that he recalled that his initial estimation concerning what had rendered him unconscious had been accurate as his last memories had him being punched into a wall **hard** by Berserker. The odd thing was he didn't think that the brute had punched so hard that he would have lost consciousness. In fact he distinctly recalled **letting** the powerhouse get in a few shots to make certain that neither Berserker nor Illya decided to go after the easier prey of Rin, Shiro or Sabre. So why had he lost consciousness and where was he right at that moment.

_I do not feel the presence of Rin's command spell or the mana of Shiro and Sabre. _He thought as he looked about the immediate area only to find chaos about him.

Deciding it would be best to observe for the time being be shifted into his spirit form which would make him invisible to all save a powerful magician or another Servant. Hopefully by observing this town he could somehow discern how he was brought here as well as how he might be able to return to Rin. Leaping to a nearby rooftop he gazes about the landscape using his eagle eyes to zoom in on areas that catch his attention or hints at sorcery. All he can see though is more and more chaos as beings and monsters of various sorts are scattered throughout the town causing destruction and fear where ever they go. Surprisingly he feels a flicker of a desire to jump down from his perch and do what he can to keep the innocent people safe from harm but he quashes this feeling ruthlessly. While he does not have complete possession of his memories from his life among the living he knows without a doubt that he despised heroes and their acts of heroism. He believed them to be pointless beings because no matter how many people they saved there would always be those that died because the hero **chose** not to save them. In short heroes were hypocrites, allowing some to die while choosing who to save and who not to save based on their own personal values, making them little better than the villains they fought against. In a way the villains were better in that they were at least honest with themselves. They did not wrap their actions in quaint ideals like 'justice' and 'doing what was right' but rather stated clearly what they wanted and did all they could to get it.

_Doesn't mean I'm willing to side with them though._ He thought continuing his search of the area, _It just means that that all heroes are liars in some shape or form. Whether it was to the people that they're supposed to protect or to themselves._

After several minutes of searching he thought that he would be better served to look elsewhere for a way back to his Master when he spotted something peculiar. Not far off there was a young woman, red of hair and clad in the bare minimum of cloth, running through the streets and in some cases through solid objects themselves. Who was she? Was she another Servant like himself? Or maybe a magician that had the ability to pass through solid objects like a ghost? Whatever the case might be she was his first sign of home and the life he had been taken from which meant he would follow her until something more promising came up. Leaping into the air he jumped from rooftop to rooftop trailing his prey and scrutinizing every action for some clue either to her identity or her agenda.

_If she is a Servant then she is likely returning to her Master since she would have to be quite weak or quite desperate to pass through objects so blatantly. _He thought as he examined each new piece of information, _Even the most amateur Servant knows better than to display themselves in plain view of non-magicians._

For five minutes he followed her silently and scrutinized her behaviour until at last the redhead approached and began conversing with a brunette clad in some elaborate ballroom gown. Judging by the way the brunette was moving about it was clear that she was scared out of her mind and was only barely listening to the redhead no doubt in the hopes of some safe haven being mentioned. Apparently, much to his disbelief, there was a Master out there more inept than that fool Shirō Emiya. Still it was the best lead he had uncovered all night so for the time being he would follow the pair in the hopes that they would lead him to the information he sought.

_That is if the redheaded Servant can get her Master under control long enough to go anywhere. _He thought with an annoyed sigh since it seemed the brunette would require much comforting before **anything** productive was done.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Two Hours Later, Empty Warehouse, Warehouse District 

"Look at you. Shaking. Terrified. Alone. Lost little lamb." Said the unnatural creature that approached the Master of the redhead with much glee.

_Looks like I'm going to have to get involved after all._ Archer thought to himself as he saw that all other persons that might have been able to save the brunette Master were restrained with little chance of escape. _What a bother!_

Leaping forward he transformed into his more solid state just in time to knock the creature shaped like a man back several steps with a solid kick. Landing gracefully he took up a position that would provide the Master with optimum cover that would hopefully give her enough confidence to at least **attempt** a spell. Otherwise he was going to get his hands a tad more dirty than he had intended and he did not like that one bit.

"Well, well, well, looks like the gangs all here! Gotta say droopy I was wonderin' where you were all this time." Declared the creature cockily now that it had recovered from the kick.

"I've been here the entire time vermin. I just chose to stand back in the hopes that this pathetic Servant and her Master would be competent enough to handle you and your mob of monsters by themselves." Archer stated disdainfully making his opinion of the others on 'his side' painfully clear, "To be honest I ordinarily wouldn't give a damn if you killed them all but I'm afraid they're my only way home so it looks like I'm stuck protecting them. With that in mind I just have one piece of advice for you monster: turn around and walk away."

To these words there was shock and anger on both sides: from his 'allies' it was because he had so casually said he could care less if they lived or died and from the vermin it was due to the casual dismissal of its threat level. Both probably wanted to do something in retaliation but only the abomination of sorcery was in any position to do anything about it.

"Just who do you think you're talkin' to whelp!? I'm the Big Bad here! I'm William the **fuckin'** Bloody and you better show the proper respect or you'll find out just how I got my name!" the monster exclaimed angrily looking like it would just take one more thing to send into a violent rage.

"Respect? To you!? Not very likely." Archer said in the same tone one might expect to hear from a rich snob being asked for any spare change he/she might have.

With a roar of anger the vermin charged forward, fully intent on rending the Servant limb from limb, which is exactly what Archer had hoped for when he had chosen his words. With his arms out to the side and his palms facing the oncoming threat Kanshō and Bakuya, in their normal pre-reinforced forms, took shape growing outwards from his wrists as he used tracing sorcery to arm himself. Then just as both ally and enemy alike noticed this change in events he lunged forward with both falchions intent on slaying his enemy in three moves. The first was simply ducking under the creature's arms and ramming Bakuya into its stomach causing the vermin to freeze in both shock and pain. Not giving his enemy a moment to recover much less retaliate he released the blade stuck in the torso of his adversary and stabbed Kanshō through the abominations heart. Pierced in two vital spots the monster could not remain standing any longer and dropped to the ground motionless. While some might have left it right there Archer was smarted than that and after using tracing sorcery one more time he created two more falchions that he threw into the air causing them to fly around briefly before spinning downwards and neatly decapitating the vermin that thought itself superior to a Servant.

As the Servant of Rin Tosaka watched the British monster turn to ash he felt an odd wave of magic swiftly approaching his location. Like a wall of force it came and since he didn't know what it was he decided that it would be better to evade it then wait and see what its nature was or how it would affect him. Leaping into the air and transforming into his spirit form he sought to pass through the walls of the warehouse after which her would leap from rooftop to rooftop away from the anomaly in the hopes of staying clear of it until it wore itself out. However he only got about as far as the rooftop opposite the warehouse where he'd done battle before it struck him and all he knew faded to black.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It did not take the rest of the Scoobies long to locate Xander but when they questioned him as to whether or not he had retained anything from his brief time as the mysterious warrior Archer he said that nothing of the character was still in him. Buffy, Willow, Giles and the others accepted this since they were all too willing to believe that the chaos of Halloween night was over and done with. Had they bothered to look into his eyes though they would know that he was not telling them the whole truth about the possible side effects of Ethan Rayne's spell. In reality he had only told them the truth from a certain point of view rather the complete truth. The complete truth was that to him now Archer was no longer just a character from a favourite Anime series of his but as real a person as anyone around him. He could still recall vividly Archer's time in the service of Rin Tosaka as well as the few bits and pieces of his life as a human that hadn't been buried by Tosaka's incomplete summoning of the Servant. With such memories though came a rather harsh view of life and heroes in general that made him question the point of fighting the demons of the world. Prior to Halloween night he had never really considered the enormity of the forces of evil that covered the Earth, never truly understood what he and the gang were up against, but through Archer he was forced to see the truth.

The truth of the matter was that there were far too many demons and far too few people with either the skill or the knowledge to combat them. Regardless of the numerous government agencies and secret societies like the Watchers Council that existed both either lacked the resources or the wisdom to efficiently combat the threat. Add to that the fact that none of the factions played well with others and it would seem that the war with the demons and the darkness would never really improve and might actually get worse as time went on. All this brought him back to one single question: Why fight at all? The answer came to him three days later when he walked into the library at night and saw everyone he cared for gathered about the library table ready to research the latest threat. Seeing them all there and knowing what they had dedicated themselves to fighting he found his own reason to fight.

He would fight to keep his friends safe.

The rest of the world could go to hell for all he cared so long as those nearest and dearest to his heart were alive and happy.

To further this goal he kept the ability he retained from Archer, tracing sorcery, to himself and only used it when there was no other way to achieve victory. He knew that the old him probably would have come right out and told the gang as well as join Buffy on the front lines but that was not who he was anymore. Instead he would maintain the façade of the useless groupie that was only occasionally insightful and on occasion helpful in the fight against the demons and darkness. Whenever Buffy needed a weapon that she forgot to bring with her he would covertly use his tracing sorcery abilities to forge that weapon for her and make it ten times better than the original. In secret he would sneak into the weapons cage and use his skills at reinforcement to make the blades sharper and the maces more durable. Anything and everything he could do to make his friends just that little bit safer he did and always without their knowledge. He seriously doubted that anyone knew that he had transmuted a crate of munitions into the rocket launcher Buffy used against the Judge. After all he had figured that if 'not weapon forged' could kill the demon then what about a weapon transmuted or traced using sorcery. They certainly didn't suspect that he had used his reinforcement ability to triple the explosive force of the explosives they used to kill Wilkins even though the materials they used weren't capable of such a massive blast. In all he was the best secret weapon the Scooby gang had and they never knew it.

However signs of change began to appear when out of nowhere Buffy gained a little sister named Dawn and he was the only one who was aware of it. Whether it was because of the mana within him or the reinforcements he had done to his own body that had protected he did not know. Nevertheless he used the knowledge to his advantage and acted like he was under the same spell as everyone else so he could covertly watch the newcomer for any malicious intent. As time went on though the truth about Dawn Summers came out within the gang and to add to that problem an unstable yet powerful demonness arrived in Sunnydale named Glory. Both Buffy and Willow took their turns trying to defeat the demonness using their strengths of either brute force or magic but neither did more than annoy the bitch. Still they did their best to keep Dawn safe from the lunatic but in the end it was the insane jibbering of one Tara McClay that had spilled the beans forcing the gang to burn rubber out of Sunnydale in order to keep the Key made flesh safe. However just as they were about to leave the city limits a group of fools called the Knights of Byzantine or something decided that they had a better way of keeping Dawn away from Glory – kill her! While he had mentally been forced to admit that death was a sure fire way of keeping the Key out of Glory's hands the remnants of who he had once been refused to allow an innocent like Dawn to be slain for something beyond her control. So with all the might the Scooby gang could muster they holed up in an abandoned gas station and decided to wait out the crusade that had been dropped in their laps.

_Should have known fate wouldn't have let us off that easy._ He thought bitterly as he continued to move briskly.

In the end it hadn't been the knights that had battered down their defences but Glory who turned out to be the doctor Ben that had been comforting Buffy over the state of her mother. That of course led them to where they were now which was following the still insane Tara to where ever all of Glory's insane victims were gathering in the hope that they would be close to where the former hell goddess was and thus Dawn. In the back of his mind he knew that the time for secrets was coming to an end. With the potential destruction of all realities at stake and no guaranteed victory in sight using the usual methods he feared it might be time for him to bare it all to protect those he cared about. Half of him rebelled against the idea since it did not want to lose the tactical advantage the secret had provided him with but another part felt a growing relief that he could once more be completely honest with his friends.

Thus it was twenty minutes later when he saw Buffy try and make a break for the ramp leading up to the top of the poorly constructed tower only to be tackled to the ground by Glory that he knew he had to make a choice.

_Choice!? What choice? I have **none**! _He thought as he charged across the space between him and the former hell goddess using every evasion and aerial technique he had acquired from Archer to make it past the minions or mindless people that got in his way.

Throwing his hands to the side he used tracing sorcery to summon Kanshō and Bakuya to his hands and once close enough he delivered two vertical slashes as hard as he could to Glory's side. While the blades did not do much damage and did shatter before the slash was completed they did do enough damage to distract Glorificus enough to allow Buffy to throw the witch off of her. Apparently while normal blades didn't do squat to the former hell goddess enchanted blades, especially those created by sorcery, were at least partially effective. Not as encouraging as one might think since it meant that he would have to trace a new weapon every time he wanted to attack but it was better than nothing.

"Xander?" Buffy asked with some confusion, "Where did you get those swords? They kinda look like the ones you bought with your Halloween costume three years ago."

"No time for explanations Slayer." He said sharply in a voice that had more in common with Archer than Xander Harris, "Get up there and get Dawn free. I'll keep the hell bitch busy for you."

"You can't! You're no match for her!" Buffy protested since she no doubt still saw him as the comforting yet not a warrior friend.

"Not true. Look Buffy I'm afraid I have been lying to you and the others for a few years now." He said even as a part of him cursed the loss of a prized advantage, "I never really lost some aspects of my Halloween costume."

Knowing that she would soon ask 'what parts' he decided to show her rather than answer since he knew it wouldn't be long before Glory went on the offensive again. Crossing his arms across his chest to form an X of sorts he used his transmutation abilities to reshape and otherwise alter his clothes into something a bit more appropriate. In the space of a few seconds his jeans, t-shirt and sneakers were gone and in their place was the armour and clothes of the Servant Archer. Nearly everyone present who witnessed the sorcery were for the moment stunned and he took that opportunity to trace replacement blades for the ones that had been shattered. Now armed and afforded some protection by the Archer Armour he knew he had to snap Buffy out of her shock or she'd never get clear of the imminent battlefield that was about to be created by Glory and him.

"Now **get GOING!**" he yelled harshly to break her out of her shocked state, "I'll buy you as much time as I can. GO!"

"Don't you dare die on me Xander Harris!" Buffy said with complete seriousness, "Promise?"

"You got it Slayer." He replied even though he knew it was a lie.

Watching with satisfaction as the blonde Slayer turned and began racing up the tower to rescue her sister he then turned back to the ex-hell goddess who by now had completely healed from the damage he'd managed to inflict. Given that it had only been a few short minutes since the wounds had been inflicted that did not bode well for his chances and they had not been great to begin with.

"You really think you're more than an annoyance to me boy?" Glory asked with contempt and a little bit of killer intent in her voice.

"I stopped being a boy when all the harsh truths about this world were forced down my throat Halloween night." He said in a tone better reserved for glaciers, "As for my chances of beating you those are the kind of odds I live for!"

Seeing the skank's face scrunch up in rage he knew his lack of fear and small amount of arrogance had had the desired effect since it caused the blonde bimbo to attack in rage rather than with careful thought. Sneaking to the side like a matador he evaded then struck the slut drawing blood but losing a blade each time. However he knew it would not be this way for very much longer since the moment Glory stopped reacting and actually started planning her moves his ability to evade her blows would be cut in half. Add to that the fact that the fact that her wounds only seemed to stick around a **little** bit longer the more of them their were and the ground he was gaining was little indeed. Nevertheless he continued to fight until a flash of light in the night sky drew his attention upward and he gasped at the sight of a nimbus of energy beginning to form mid-air with bolts of energy shooting from it at random moments.

"Bad move swordsman! You don't have time to look away from me like that!" came the smug voice of Glory that sounded a lot closer than he wanted her.

Turning his head to look back in her direction he barely had a enough time to bring his two falchions up to guard before both of Glory's fists slammed into them. For a moment two forces raged against one another, Glory's power and his reinforcement sorcery, one trying to destroy his swords while the other tried desperately to keep them whole. The result was an explosion that sent him flying back into steel girder while only causing Glory to stumble back a few steps. Falling to the ground with his entire back seriously bruised up he could feel the small trickle of blood dripping down his face. Moment by aching movement he forced himself to one knee only to look up to see Glory standing smugly only thirteen feet away looking like she had all but one this fight.

"I gotta hand it to you red you actually forced me to get serious!" she said as she began her slow trot towards him, "I can't really remember the last time someone managed that in a fight with me. But now it's all over! Any last words?"

The honest answer was that he knew he was in bad shape and with Glory no longer in a state to be attacking wildly his skills at evasion would be nil especially with his injuries. That left only one option as far as he was concerned but it was one he had only practiced with once and nearly died as a result. Nevertheless it was the only card he could play that stood any chance at bringing this bitch down and just like Archer he **really** hated to lose. With a sigh he shook his head and placed a rueful grin on his face as he realized that history was about to repeat itself even though it was a fictional history. Looking up at Glory he glared at her with the determination borne of warrior willing to put everything on the line including his life.

As a matter of fact I do Glory!" he said as he leapt from his crouched position and landed on an I-beam twenty feet above.

Centring himself he prepared himself to speak the words that would in all likelihood be his last.

"I am the bone of my sword!" he proclaimed before he traced a unique bow into existence followed by Caladbolg the sword with a blade shaped like a drill.

Using transmutation he reshaped the sword into an arrow of light and professionally combined it with the bow drawing back the black cord until it was as tight as it could be. As if mirroring the movements of Berserker the former goddess leapt towards him with the complete intention of killing him before he could attack. All she really did was provide him with the perfect target and with a loud exhale he released the arrow allowing it to fly with unerring aim towards its target. With an explosion of force and energy that shook everything and the tower almost too much the transmuted sword detonated inflicting a massive amount of destructive energy on the ex-goddess. When the smoke cleared he was somewhat gratified to see that his attack at least had resulted in massive cuts being made criss-crossing the bitch's torso. However what elation he had vanished when the injuries seal up in of seconds rather than minutes like earlier.

_She must be diverting quite a bit of her power to her regenerative abilities in order to do that._ He thought and while this caused him to grimly smile inside he knew the battle was far from over.

Leaping up and up until he reached the top of the framework of metal that had been constructed separate from the tower Buffy and Dawn were on he took a moment to regain what strength he could for the next phase in his plan. Turned out he had less than two minutes since not one second later he sensed an iron rebar cutting through the air barely giving him enough time to evade it.

"You continue to impress me boy! Finishing you off will make a fitting way to end my time in this pathetic dimension!" Glory said as she stood up on the metal beam across from him.

With that she leapt across the gap between him but slower than before which led him to believe that by focusing most of her demonic energy on regeneration her superhuman physical abilities had been reduced. As a result she fell a little short of her mark and just barely managed to grab a hold of the beam he had once occupied in order to keep from falling to the ground below.

Crossing his arms across his torso he chanted "Steel is my body and fire is my blood!"

With those words two more falchions traced into his hands and with a swing of his arms he threw them like boomerangs into the arm then watched them dive and impale Glory in her shoulders. Sadly she did not fall to the ground as he had hoped which meant he would once again have to tap into his dwindling supply of mana.

"I have created over a thousand blades!" he cried as two more falchions replaced the ones he had thrown yet they went the same way as their predecessors as he threw them in Glorificus' direction.

As if being called by their younger siblings the two swords that had been embedded into Glory's shoulders took the sky to do a literal dance of the blades in the sky before they cut downwards at the ex-hell goddess like buzz saws. Like explosives they became as the arcane energy that they had been constructed with was released bombarding the bimbo with their energy on all sides. While this attack did serve to severely weaken Glory she stubbornly refused to relinquish her grasp on the metal beam and that left him with only one course of action.

Summoning into existence two more swords he tightrope walked along the metal beams at great speed while saying "Unknown to Death, Nor Known to Life!"

Crossing his blade bearing arms behind his back he could feel as they transmuted, lengthening and adorning themselves with razor sharp feathers. Closing his eyes he repeated the words that to Archer had embodied the life of a swordsman:

_"Our souls, hard yet firm_

_Our power, tearing the mountains_

_Our swords, splitting the water_

_Our names, reaching the villa_

_Only one among us can stand under heaven"_

Then leaping high into the air he brought both strengthened and transformed blades down hard onto the back of Glorificus this time cutting deeper than ever before. The scream of pain that she unleashed from her mouth was music to his ears but when the pain turned to rage none could have been more surprised than he when crimson light not only shatter his blades as well as throw him back but also sealed up the bitch's wounds with nary a blemish to show that they had ever been there in the first place. Dropping to one knee on a beam on the far side of Glory's position he could feel that his left arm was dangerously close to breaking. All but growling at the poor turn of luck he seemed to be getting with his opponent he watched as she almost effortlessly climbed up onto the beam she had been feebly clinging to moments before. Turning around to face him he could see that what little anger and perhaps pain he had managed to inflict on her had been wiped away and replaced with unregulated arrogance.

"Hahahahahaha! It's all over now you little monkey!" she crowed as a crimson light began to filter into her eyes, "With each moment that passes the barrier keeping me from my home weakens and more of my former power returns to me! You can't win!"

"You're still a slut though!" he said snarkily before some of the tact he had inherited from Archer could stop him.

Too bad since it probably could have spared him from some pain since with a snarl of annoyance Glory shot across the gap and kicked him off his perch sending him falling to the ground below. Dazed and disoriented he used what focus he had to reinforce the armour protecting his back and arms knowing that they would receive the brunt of the sudden stop of the fall. With pain and a force capable of driving all the air out of his lungs he finally hit the ground with an audible thump. He was barely aware of another thump marking the arrival of Glorificus to ground level and was only able to hear her words because he had managed to use his abilities to patch himself up a little bit.

"Bet you're feeling pretty stupid right now aren't ya?" she asked imperiously with her hands on her hips.

"I-I've n-never really… **ungh**… been accused of being all… **angh**… in the first place." He replied as he forced his body to get back to its feet.

"Hmph! Must have hit you too hard. You're starting to talk crazy." Glory said as she could not make sense of what her foe was up to, "I guess I'll just have to put you out of your misery!"

"Sorry bitch! I can't die just yet." he said as he finally managed to secure his stance, "'Cause before I go I intend to make it clear to everyone just who it was you faced!"

Tracing as quickly as he could two falchions, Kanshō and Bakuya, he threw one to the right of the ex-hell goddess piercing an up until now ignored drum causing it to spew its contents all over Glorificus' face. Moving to a position behind her he dropped down to one knee as he prepared for the final words of his chant that would bring his ultimate technique into existence.

"I'll tear you **limb** from **limb**!" Glory screamed with rage as he tried vigorously to wipe the drum's contents from her face.

Closing his eyes he began to gather all the mana he had left knowing that it was time for the big finale and that he'd be **damned** if he was going to screw things up now! Peripherally he was aware of Glorificus thrashing about, slamming her fists into things randomly, but that was all the attention he could spare given the enormity of what he was about to attempt. Therefore he did not notice when the blonde bimbo shorted out an electrical panel causing a lamp that had once been dark to turn on. With an orbit all its own it cast its light about the place before falling on him finally like a Hollywood spotlight. Then to doubly curse him it was at that moment that the bitch's vision was finally restore so it took her less than five seconds to locate him. However the Harris luck would not prevail for he now had all the mana he was going to get with the precious seconds he knew he had left.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons!" he chanted as the strain caused images of his life to flash before his mind's eye, "Yet those hands will never h-hold **anything!**"

"Oh no you don't swordsman! No more tricks of yours!" Glory yelled as she charged his position.

"**So** as I pray, **UNLIMITED BLADEWORKS!**" he yelled unleashing all his gathered mana into the Servant Archer's supreme technique.

Then, as though he himself had opened a portal to Hell itself, a circle of fire grew rapidly outwards from his position engulfing not only his foe but the Scoobies still on the ground as well. All were momentarily blinded but when they were able to open their eyes they thought for a moment that they had truly died in the flames the wounded warrior had conjured. All about them, as far as the eye could see, was a wasteland littered with blades of every type sticking out of the ground like tombstones. Then they looked upwards and saw dark gears turning slowly in the sky attached to some sort of invisible framework for there was nothing holding them up in the air. It was only because they had not expected it that they noticed him returning to a standing position and saw that he now clasped in his right hand a finely crafted sword that looked quite sharp indeed.

"As you can probably tell Glory this is a realm of unlimited blades forged by my own imagination. Each is a work incapable of being copied using conventional swordsmith skills and sharp enough to penetrate even your scaly hide." He said grandly as he brought up his sword to assure himself of its quality, "So let's finish this Glorificus! No more holding back!"

"Rrrraaagggghhhhh!" Glory yelled with rage as she charged the boy who dared to think he could beat her.

Matching her stride for stride Xander ran headlong towards her fully intent on carrying out the meaning of his words right then and ending this fight for good. Like two titans clashing the air shook with the power of the conflict and light exploded from ground zero as his power was pitted against the rising power of Glorificus. He wanted to believe that his strength was enough to defeat her, that he could swagger over to the gang triumphant, but even as he thrust his sword towards his foe's heart and summoned blades from the environment to impale her he knew that he had lost. With light to rival five suns the battle ended and once more they all found themselves back in the construction site where it had all began. All that was really different was that now Xander lay bloody and broken on his back barely breathing and in no condition to continue fighting.

_Looks l-like I c-can't keep my p-promise Buffy._ He thought with pain and fatigue as his strength began to fade, _I guess I was never more than a copy of Archer after all and we all no copies can never match the original._

"Do not give up Master!" came a voice that instantly obliterated any grief within him even as he felt a burning sensation on the back of his right hand.

Turning his head as best he could he saw a sight that should have been impossible in this world. Flying through the air at Glory, clad in the finest armour the blacksmiths of Camelot could make, was a blonde warrior straight from the same piece of fiction as Archer. With a mighty swing of her invisible blade she forced Glory to withdraw lest the bimbo find one more blade sticking out of her injured body. Even as he felt her use the restorative powers of the sheathe of Excalibur to heal the most severe of his wounds his mind was unable to grasp how she could possibly be here. To his knowledge no one else had dressed up as a character from the Anime Fate Stay Night on Halloween years ago nor had Ethan's spell been cast again since. It just didn't make sense to him yet as some of the pain and injuries left him he could not deny that she was here now and with her perhaps victory was still possible.

Helping him to his feet she asked "Shall we finish this battle Master?"

"Yes! Let's fight together and claim our victory!" he said confidence rising in his voice as he summoned the sword that held special meaning to both him and his comrade, "Let's **go SABER!**"

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	14. Four Times the Fun? Yeah RIGHT!

"_Four Times the Fun! Yeah RIGHT!!"_

_BtVS/Multiple X-Over_

_Note: This drabble was inspired by the works of Joe Hundredaire with emphasis on his "Trigamy" fanfic and his more recent "The Other" fanfic. Both were highly entertaining because of their funny little quirks and overall interesting plot. So when I read the latest (chapter 2) chapter of "The Other" plot bunnies by the dozen began to pop into existence demanding to be written in one form or another. Since they were so decidedly cute and/or adorable I decided to give in. Once you read them I think you'll understand why I just HAD TO write this. In the BtVS this takes place about a year or two after the series finale. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!_

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_**Arashmahaar, Palace of D'Hoffryn, Throne Room**_

"No, no, no, no, **no, no, NO!**" D'Hoffryn roared as he brought back his right hand and threw a ball of infernal flame at the avian minion kneeling in front of him.

For a few moments all he did was stand in front of his throne and let his fury play itself out but eventually he reigned in the emotion regaining his sense of reason. Looking down at the pile of smoking ash in front of him he sighed remembering what he had done and how ill advised killing his minion was given his current situation. With a casual call to his palace servants to clean up the mess he allowed his thoughts to drift back to his current situation. His minion, the one he had just killed, had returned from a scouting mission to a neighboring realm to determine if the rumors he had heard were true. What were those rumors? Simply that a fellow demon lord was plotting to launch an invasion of his realm and take it for his own. The potential invasion alone wasn't what had set him off, not completely, but it was the straw that finally broke his self-control. It was just the latest bit of bad news in a long line of bad luck that he had been cursed with for the last few years. Bad luck mixed with a steady decline in the quality of the vengeance inspired wishes his subordinates had been bringing in lately had left him in a foul mood. Looking through his memories and recollections he tried to determine when it had all turned so rotten and ultimately who was to blame. If he had a person or even a group of people to focus his rage on he'd kill fewer servants and perhaps be able to concentrate better. In the end though there was only one person, one human, whom he could safely blame for his recent streak of bad luck.

**XANDER LAVELLE HARRIS!**

The very name was enough to stoke the flames of his fury almost to be point where he felt like reducing his entire palace to rubble just to vent his pent up rage. However he knew well enough what the situation was and knew that nothing would be served by throwing a temper tantrum. In fact making up such a fuss over a single mortal human male would likely be seen as a form of weakness and would only encourage his enemies to move ahead with their plans. So with much difficulty he restrained his anger and forced himself to look at matters from a more objective point of view.

One could say that the whole matter had begun after the failed wish granting assignment Anyanka had taken on in Sunnydale answering the furious anger of one Cordelia Chase. On the surface it had been a routine case of a human male cheating on the female that he supposedly had given his heart to. He had been fully aware of when the realm of Earth had been altered by the power of the wish and he most certainly aware of when Anyanka's power center had been destroyed. He'd immediately used his abilities to review what had happened and was most disappointed to see that it had been pretty much his favorite's own fault. She'd gotten careless and sloppy when she had underestimated the human Rupert Giles' resolve in destroying her power center. Mistakes like this could not go unpunished or it would encourage others to be less vigilant in their duties so he had pretended to cast her out and remain human forever more. In truth he had just intended to let her wallow through the misery of being a mere human before 'taking pity on her' and welcoming her back to the fold. THAT plan had been obliterated the moment Anya, as she was called by the other humans, asked the mortal Xander Harris to the senior prom. From there matters had gone from bad, to worse to outright maddening as Anya not only was not suffering as a human but actually seemed to be enjoying herself. This forced him to prolong her 'banishment' in the hopes that she would fall back into depression and misery so as to be in the proper state for him to recall her.

_However that **didn't** happen did it!?_ He thought sarcastically as he remembered the events that followed.

No Anyanka's happiness continued until just before it would have reached its peak at her failure of a wedding to Mr. Harris. He had almost smiled with glee when Anya had come back to him on her hands and knees begging to return to the ranks of vengeance/justice demons. Of course he had put on airs that he had only just barely decided in favor of granting her request but on the inside he had been quite pleased. He should have known better than to take something at face value and decided he should have let her anger towards Alexander Harris stew for a while before welcoming her back. Instead he had jumped at the chance to get his favorite back in the business and thus was forced to watch one pathetic attempt at vengeance wish granting after another. In the time she had been human Anyanka had lost her edge and no longer wreaked the pain and suffering she had prior to her initial fall from grace. It even got so bad so as to cause her to **BEG** him to undo a wish she had granted despite the fact that his people had a strict no return policy on such things. Rather than let her continue her sub par performance he granted her request but not without the punishment of having her watch her best friend incinerated before her eyes. While she did not find out until later but he also stripped her of her powers rendering her human once more. It had been his plan at the time to wait until she grew old and decrepit then on her deathbed offer her youth and the powers of a vengeance demon. After all what human wouldn't want their youth back along with enough power to elevate them above their fellow man?

_That plan went out the window though when she died in that pathetic battle with the First!_ He growled mentally as he recalled the most annoying fact, _Not only did she perish but she also died in such a way that places her soul out of my reach forever!_

It bothered him to no end to know that in the space of less than a decade he had lost the two vengeance demons that had set the standard for all their comrades to follow. He had lost them for good and the one person that bore the most blame for that was indirectly protected from any form of painful retribution. True he was not a champion and thus did not fall under the watchful eyes of the Powers That Be nor did he worship any god or deity with the power to stand up to the Lord of Vengeance but he didn't need to. Just by living with the Slayer Buffy Summers and her friends he was protected! As long as he stayed with them and was considered important enough the deities/gods and Powers that protected them would also protect him by association. It drove him near to madness that the one mortal he wanted to exact painful retribution against was kept from him.

_If I didn't know better I would say Xander Harris had already read the universal bylaws and had planned it this way!_ D'Hoffryn thought with a snarl as he gripped the armrests of his throne tightly, _Hells knows that there are quite a few loop-!_

It was with that last word that he experienced a brief moment of clarity in which the answer to all his problems was laid out before him. With a wave of his hand he summoned his own personal copy of the universal bylaws and swiftly opened it to the section he believed his happiness lay written. In under two minutes he found what he was looking for and with every word he read a smile began to grow and grow on his face that would have sent even the bravest warrior running for the hills. With utter glee he laughed loud and hard as he found the answer to his unholy prayers and began to formulate in his mind the revenge he would take on one Xander LaVelle Harris. Throughout the realm his subjects could hear him laugh and it caused them to shudder with fear for they knew that when their Lord laughed like that some poor fool was going to suffer forever.

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_**Cleveland, Ohio**_

_**Headquarters for the New Slayers and Watcher's Council**_

_**Christmas Day, Living Room**_

"Uh… Xander? What is this?" Willow asked as she held out in front of her what had been inside the box from her best bud since pre-school.

The 'this' in question looked like a cross between a crossbow and a chandelier because parts of it were shaped like a crossbow. However at set places both on the stock and the curved bow part there were crystals of different colors embedded into the metal to make for a rather impressive decorative effect. However since all the Scoobies knew that Xander had about as much talent decorating as any other twenty-something American guy they didn't think he'd made it beautiful on purpose. So with no feasible ideas themselves they all looked to the former carpenter for some sort of hint as to what it could be. No matter what of course the redheaded wicca would act like she loved it and use it whenever she could so her Xander-shaped friend wouldn't think she didn't like it but that all depended on finding out what it was in the first place.

"It's a magic crossbow." Xander replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "The stock and bow itself is made out of the strongest lightweight materials I could get my hands on and the cord has some serious tensile strength to it. As for the crystals I kinda looked through some of G-Man's books to find out which ones would help a super talented wicca like become an elite archer and voila!"

"Oh! Yeah now I see it! Thanks Xander!" Willow exclaimed as she finally managed to identify the crystals as well as their positions on the crossbow.

The former Zeppo smiled as he saw his bestest bud's face light up but there was a part of him that was a little disappointed that she hadn't picked up on it right away. After all next to Giles Willow was **the person** to talk about all things magicky and supernatural and that was saying something considering how many years G-Man had on her. The disappointment didn't last long though because it was **Christmas** day and on this most wonderfully present filled day nothing could get him down. Buffy had gotten him a completely functional and authentic katana straight from Japan that she had purchased during her 'vacation' from slaying. Giles' present was a combination of all three Lord of the Rings books and an offer to teach him how to use the katana Buffy had given him. Dawn's gift had surprised the hell out of him and caused him to immediately close the bag it had come in and put in behind his back just in case he had to make a run for it. No way was he going to let either Giles or Buffy find out what was in there or else not only would there be arguing this Christmas morning (something he'd had enough of with his own parents) but he'd probably get blamed for it somehow. Faith's gift thankfully was a little easier to take since it was pretty much expected that she'd get him something with both shock value and distinctly naughty. Nothing serious though since both she and Robin Wood were still dating but everyone had a good laugh at the membership card for a local strip club/bar. She'd said something to the effect that he'd probably need some way to release the UST with all the newbie Slayers around and a strip club was safer. Most of the remaining gifts were the standard clothes and DVDs but all were welcome since they had come from friends both new and old.

They were all about to get up and head into the dining room for a Christmas style breakfast when unexpectedly a knock came from the front door. The reason no one was expecting this was because everyone that had said they'd be here for Christmas was already here and had been so for the past three days. Some might think that this was just someone who thought that they wouldn't be able to make it arriving after all but the rest of the gang new better. Each of them were fully aware of the responsibilities that had kept some of their other friends away from HQ this holiday season and knew there was no way they would suddenly get a big enough break to come home for Christmas. With this in mind just about everyone grabbed a weapon from a concealed compartment near their current position while Xander approached the door to answer it. It was risky but he knew that Willow would have her new magic crossbow loaded and aimed at the door if it turned out to be some demon crashing their Christmas. So after taking a deep breath to calm himself he put on his best 'I am just a normal guy' face and opened the door.

"Is there a Mr. Alexander LaVelle Harris home?" asked the Fed Ex delivery guy standing on the front porch.

_Okay. This guy looks normal enough even though I think he'd be better off in the army as a drill instructor._ Xander thought as he took in the man's features and formed an opinion, _Still nothing screaming 'I am Demonic' so better play it cool._

"I'm Alex Harris." He said cringing internally at the use of his name in that form rather than the usual 'Xander'.

"Sign here please." Mr. Fed Ex said handing over a clipboard with a form on it with the spot for him to sign pointed out with a large X.

Giving the form a quick once over, just to make sure it wasn't one of those hell contracts or something, he noticed several things that seemed rather odd to him. The first was the fact that the return address for the delivery was some place in Sweden of all places and the name given was a Mr. D. Hoffman. For some reason that name sent of some minor alarm bells in his head but for the life of him he could not figure out what was wrong about that name. In the end though the form turned out to be exactly what it appeared to be so he took the offered pen from the delivery guy and signed his name on the form. He was just about to ask the guy what exactly it was he was delivering but by that time the guy had already turned around and started gesturing to someone in the driveway to come forward. The former carpenter didn't have long to wait as far as finding out what was being delivered was concerned since less than a minute after the form was signed four more Fed Ex delivery guys wheeled four crates into the house. They were coffin shaped and were wheeled in vertically so they kind of looked more like old fashioned phone booths but other than that they were your stereotypical crates right down to the 'this side up' markings. One by one they were wheeled in and placed side by side in front of the fireplace with nary a word spoken by the delivery guys that had placed them there or the drill sergeant that had signaled them to proceed inside. After a brief nod that seemed to be Mr. Fed Ex's version of 'goodbye' all five of the delivery guys walked out the door and slammed it shut. With no one but friends and family once again in the building all eyes turned to the four crates with a single question in each of their minds.

What is inside?

Well, okay, there were actually two questions in Xander's mind but they were along the same lines as the rest of the gang's inquiries.

"Well are you gonna open them up Xand?" asked Dawn who was clearly the most curious of the group and thus the most in favor of cracking the crates open.

"You think I should? I mean sure the hellmouth here in the city is smaller than the one we had back in Sunny-D but still 'Hellmouth' ya know?" he asked not certain if it would be the right thing to do to open up some unknown boxes considering past experience.

"I'm not getting any dangerous vibes off of it Xander so they should be okay to open." Willow said after a thirty second stare in the direction of the crates.

"Indeed. Well if neither Willow's nor my own senses can pick up anything unsavory about them then I suppose opening them is the logical next step." Giles stated with only a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"Buff'?" he asked the blonde Slayer since he both valued her opinion and she was in the best tactical position of the group in case the old Harris luck kicked in.

"If both Giles and Willow think its safe then I say go for it." Buffy replied trying to reassure the obviously wary former Key Guy, "Who knows? Maybe it's a new state of the art entertainment system or something."

Xander just looked at her like she had said 'maybe Michael Jackson will stop looking and sounding like a girl'.

Yeah.

Right!

Still he couldn't just let the crates sit there forever especially if whatever was in there was capable of going bad if left unused for too long. So without further adieu he grabbed the metal poker from beside the fireplace and began to work the first of the four phone booth shaped crates open. It wasn't easy because whoever had nailed it shut must have used twice the recommended amount of nails when he hammer the thing shut. After five good wrenching motions with the poker though he managed to yank enough of the nails free that the lid was one second away from falling to the ground from gravity alone. However it wasn't given the chance because just as the Xan-man was about to deliver the final yank another force took over disassembling the crate into its individual parts causing the top of the crate to shoot up towards the ceiling and the others to fall to the ground. Also it didn't just happen to the first crate that he'd been working on but rather it started a chain reaction in which all the crates exploded apart and revealed what lay within.

"Oh boy!" was all Xander could get out in a whisper as he saw and recognized the contents of the crates all too well.

In crate number one there was a woman in her late twenties or early thirties with wild red hair wearing only a loincloth and halter-top with golden accessories to top everything off. Needless to say he **was NOT** looking forward to dealing with her when she woke up regardless of whether or not she came too in a good or bad mood. Next was a person that looked like a young girl but if his hunch was correct she was actually several **hundred** years old and had the ability to alter her physical appearance at will. He hoped she didn't wake up because he knew that knowing his luck he'd probably a substitute for Tenchi in her lab experiments. Crate number three had a **serious** hottie with orange skin, red hair wearing something that looked like a cross between armor and something from the red light district. He wouldn't be too upset if she woke up but depending on which universe and which timeline she came from she could be as painful to introduce to humanity as Anya had been starting out. Lastly there was someone who he figured would probably the least troublesome due to her ice queen personality and logical approach to everything. In fact the only problem with her that he could think of was what to do if she somehow got hurt during her stay in this dimension. After all there couldn't be too many docs that could take care of her or a suitable replacement for her green blood.

All in all there was nothing he wanted more at the moment than to get these four women back to the dimensions/realities/existences they came from.

So of course this was when the tops of all four crates **just HAD TO** respond to the call of gravity and drop right on the heads of all four women waking them up in a very painful manner.

"Whoever **DARED** to strike me will pay **dearly**!" growled Demona in her human form since it was daytime outside.

"OW! Keep it down will ya!" exclaimed Washu Hakubi as she massaged her sore head, "My head hurts enough already without you making it worse!"

"Ohw era uoy elpoep? Erehw ma I?" asked Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran a.k.a Starfire who obviously hadn't assimilated the English language yet.

"I would suggest we postpone any irreparable actions until we properly ascertain the situation." T'Pol recommended showing only minimal proof that her head hurt as well.

_Two parts calm or at least rational along with two parts upset or testy. _Xander thought as he took in the scene before him tried to come up with something intelligent to say.

"So do you want some Tylenol first or breakfast?" he asked casually looking at the four unexpected guests.

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_**Dining Room, One Hour Later**_

"You humans cannot seriously expect us to believe this?" Demona asked sounding like someone had just tried to sell her a bridge in Brooklyn.

"We know it's a lot to take in Demona but given your experience with magic and the Third race in particular I'm surprised you're not more open minded about this." Xander said trying to keep his voice diplomatic and honest.

"Don't pretend to think you know me human! I am more knowledgeable about magic than anyone here and am quite aware of what it is capable of." She stated with simmering hostility, "I'd sooner believe this a trick of that fool Puck than actually believe that I've been transported to a world where my life is nothing more than a TV program."

_Can't argue with her there._ Xander thought as he realized that this was indeed something the trickster of Avalon would pull to get a few laughs from Demona's misery.

"I do not believe that these people are lying to us Demona." Starfire stated using almost perfect English showing that why she could now be understood her grasp of the language was only basic, "They have been nothing but kind to us since we awoke and have not asked anything of us in return."

"**Yet**." Demona pointed out making it clear that her trust would take the longest to gain if she chose to give it at all.

"Look Ms. Cranky, it's going to take me at least a month and a half to construct a working dimensional gateway to get us back to our home dimensions, so let's at least **try** to behave towards our hosts." Washu said as she continued to work on the holographic computer she had somehow created out of nothing, "If I had access to my lab back home I could do it in a week but with these limited resources you'll have to wait a little longer."

"While I admit that I am hesitant to believe their claims I can find no evidence to disprove them." T'Pol stated making her opinion known in typical Vulcan fashion, "Therefore it would be prudent to attempt to coexist with Xander and his friends for the duration of our stay here."

Staring at Demona as if to dare the human by day gargoyle to argue the point further all T'Pol got in return was a snort of contempt before the scantily clad redhead got out of her chair and stomped out of the room. Xander hoped that she didn't go too far because while he couldn't honestly say he liked her he wasn't about to let a human hating gargoyle run wild on the hellmouth. With no one really knowing her as well as the people around him and all the potential trouble she could get into he wanted to keep her where he could see her. Still he was reasonably reassured by the fact that Demona had to know that while few people knew anything about her she knew next to nothing about how this world worked as well. That meant that unless she wanted to go around stumbling in the dark as it were she would stick close and learn a bit before striking out on her own. Given the way that T'Pol and Washu were talking it didn't sound like they stray very far as both wanted to get back to their proper realities as soon as was possible. Add to that that they were among the most intelligent people he could think of, fictional or not, and he was sure they could see the wisdom of keeping close to Council HQ.

As for Starfire though he doubted very much that they'd have any trouble from her given the air of innocence about her which seemed more in keeping with her cartoon self than the comic book version her physical body matched better. It was when his thoughts settled on her body that he floated dangerously close to the infamous blue screen of death due to the sensory overload. Fortunately a quick jab in the ribs from Buffy knocked him out of it and back into the land of the polite and discreet.

"While it is fortunate that you all have chosen to remain here there is still the issue of who sent you here in the first place." Giles pointed out wanting to figure out the mystery of the rather outrageous situation sooner rather than later, "What was the last thing you recall before waking up here?"

"Well I was in my lab working on an instantaneous transit system so Ayeka could travel back and forth to Jurai faster." Washu replied as a contemplative frown appeared on her face, "I remember I was entering some quantum equations when I thought I heard something behind me and the next thing I know I wake up here with a headache."

"My memory unfortunately is no more helpful I am afraid." Starfire replied sounding sad that she could not put forth any useful information, "I was making my escape from my Psion captors in a shuttlecraft when a shadow fell over me from behind. After that I remember nothing until the hard piece of wood struck me on the head."

"It seems then that I am the only one who may be able to shed even a little light on the situation." T'Pol stated managing to sound smug even with no perceivable arrogance in her words, "I was aboard Enterprise shortly after our mission with the Xindi had concluded and was on my way to Engineering when I sensed a presence behind me. When I turned to look I managed to catch a glimpse of an alien wearing dark red robes and two horns on the top of his head. I demanded that he state his intentions but was rendered unconscious by some kind of energy discharge. I then awoke here and the rest you are aware of."

"Red robes and horns on top of his—" Xander repeated as he wracked his brain trying to figure out what kind of demon it could be when all of a sudden the answer hit him right between the eyes.

Not even bothering to explain his abrupt departure from the dining room table he ran to the living room and quickly picked up his copy of the sheet he signed for the Fed Ex guy. Skimming past all the other information he zeroed in on the info concerning the name of the person that had sent the four crates and saw that his suspicions were dead on.

"What's wrong Xander?" Willow asked as the others by this time had caught up with him.

"Take a look at the name on this invoice Wills and tell me what demonic 'friend' it reminds you of?" he asked knowing that it would take the girl genius only moments to figure it out.

Looking at his oldest friend as she read the invoice he could tell **exactly** when the proverbial lightbulb clicked on and she realized what he was trying to show her.

"D'Hoffryn!" she exclaimed as all the pieces fell into place.

"Give the cute redhead a prize!" he exclaimed half with humor and half with sarcasm considering what this event likely meant for the Scooby gang's future.

"Who is D'Hoffryn?" T'Pol asked with scientific curiosity.

"The demon you saw on the Enterprise and most likely the one that kidnapped all of you and sent you here." Xander replied as his mind began to review the possible scenarios, "He's lord of a hell dimension called Arashmahaar ruling over an army of vengeance demons. We've had a few run ins with him or his people over the years and if he really is responsible for all this then he's got some serious not fun in the works."

"More accurately, given the fact that the delivery was made to Xander in particular, it is safe to assume that the demon Lord's revenge is meant primarily for him." Giles stated as he aided in the assembling of the problem, "Not surprising considering that D'Hoffryn lost Anya and indirectly Halfrek through Xander's intervention. Though I must admit I am somewhat confused as to what sort of vengeance he could gain by sending four, at least to us, fictional characters here."

"If this guy's a lord then he probably wants us to stew a little here until he drops the next part of his 'big plan' on us." Washu theorized as she crossed her arms thoughtfully, "Too bad he didn't take into account that he was dealing with Washu the **GREAT!** By the time I'm done I'll have him begging for mercy! Hahahahahahaha!"

_Oh no!_ Xander thought realized that the self-proclaimed greatest scientific genius in the universe was getting excited.

Not of the good!

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_**One Month and One Week Later, Washu's Pocket Laboratory dimension**_

"Ya know sometimes I amaze even myself!" Washu exclaimed as she brought the inter-dimensional gateway online, "Finished a whole week in advance! Pretty impressive huh?"

"Definitely little Washu! Then again I expect nothing less from the greatest scientific genius in two dimensions!" Xander replied hastily as he had long since learned it was never a good thing to annoy the short pink haired genius.

"If you're **quite** done? I want to be free of this cursed dimension as soon as possible and back home where I belong!" Demona said with contempt and anger at anything prolonging her stay in a dimension she had come to detest.

To say that it had been a long and difficult five weeks with Washu, Demona, Starfire and T'Pol in the house would have been an understatement of biblical proportions. Of the four he had been correct in assuming that the two to make the most trouble had been Demona and Washu but that didn't meant that either T'Pol or Starfire didn't start their own little bit of chaos themselves. At first it was Washu's experiments and efforts at getting some payback on D'Hoffryn which of course led her to include **him**, the Xan-Man, since he was the established target of the demon lord's ire. While in watching the Tenchi Muyo Animes and OVA he had found the scenes involving Tenchi and Washu's lab to be amusing it was another thing entirely when you were the one being experimented on. Fortunately the small scientist was able to quickly determine that there was nothing about Xander that could help her in her plot against D'Hoffryn so she let him go.

That of course dropped him into the trouble that Demona had been causing the Slayers both on patrol and around the house. On patrol the dilemmas came in the form of the gargoyle interfering with the slaying of a few magically gifted demons that the millennia old woman no doubt thought would help her get home faster. For the most part the Slayers that had been messed with had done their best to kill their target without hurting Demona but it was clear they were beginning to get tired of her interference. Around the house it was a case of the former second in command's high and mighty attitude getting on everyone's nerves as well as the few instances when she had deliberately made an effort to humiliate the others. He knew that Kennedy was still fuming over the defeat the long-lived gargoyle had handed her in the basement gym during one moonlit night. It had been one of the few nights that the C.E.O of the fictional Nightstone Unlimited had stayed in and of course she had to push Willow's on again off again girlfriend the wrong way. This had led to a challenge, the challenge had led to a sparring match, and that had led to Kennedy unconscious on the other side of the room with several nasty bruises and cuts. The core Scoobies had done their best to lecture her but naturally the gargoyle had treated them as if they were peasants and she herself was a god.

So it was understandable that no one was exactly heartbroken that the female gargoyle was leaving today.

In the cases of Starfire and T'Pol on the other hand he knew at least four people that would seriously miss the duo including him. For the former it was a case of it be refreshing to have someone so innocent and yet at the same time so capable of battle around the house. Being that she wasn't exactly human looking the woman of Tamaran couldn't go outside without Willow putting a small glamour on her to make her appear human but that was just a small detail at best. With that taken care of each of his girls took an the task of trying to make Koriand'r's stay here as comfortable as possible which meant numerous classes of 'earth females 101'. While they hadn't been able to cover everything Buffy believed that the emerald-eyed alien knew enough that she wouldn't stick out too much in public.

As for T'Pol the Vulcan had stayed inside the HQ despite numerous efforts to get her to join the others when they showed Starfire around town. Apparently she was choosing to adhere to her people's policy concerning the contamination of a culture less advanced then their own. Instead she had grown interested in the subject of demons and magic which led to Giles going into lecture mode along with Willow who would provide empirical proof when she could at least where the existence of magic was concerned. From that point on the library was always the one place in the building where you could be reasonably sure you could find the Vulcan. It was also educational for the redheaded wicca since T'Pol was apparently willing to at least advance Willow's scientific knowledge a little bit. The secrets of energy weapons and warp drive were kept locked away but once his bestest bud proved that she had sufficient knowledge of a subject the science officer tossed her a few kernels of knowledge to help her along. All in all it would be enough to keep the founding female member of the Scooby gang buried hip deep in books for at least a year. SO naturally Willow didn't want her new favorite source of scientific knowledge to leave and Giles, though he wouldn't admit it, would likely miss her as well since she actually **listened** to him when he lectured on demons.

All in all it had been an interesting experience to have four characters that two months ago had been considered nothing more than fictional characters.

"Well since Ms. Happy Pants here is in such a rush to leave I'll open a portal to her world first." Washu said obviously not happy with her shining moment of genius being ruined by Demona's foul mood.

A few keystrokes on the holographic keyboard and a golden portal opened ten feet in front of the self-proclaimed greatest scientific genius in the universe.

"This has truly been the worst visit **anywhere** that I've had in a long time." Demona said not wanting to leave without at least one parting shot, "I shall be thankful if I never see **any** of you ever again."

With as much arrogance as the gargoyle/human could muster she strode towards the portal fully intent on leaving them far behind both literally as well as figuratively. However just as she reached the five foot mark between her and the portal she suddenly collapsed to her knees in pain gripping her stomach and only her own pride keeping her from crying out. Naturally he did what he always did when someone was in pain and moved to carry her away from the portal since in his mind it was connected with her sudden bout of agony. His theory was proven right when the moment she fiery woman was returned to the ten foot distance the pain vanished and her well being physically proven when she violently freed herself from her grasp to stand on her own.

"Are you alright Demona?" he asked not taking the woman's attitude too seriously given that he knew the main reasons why she'd turned out like this.

"I'm **fine**. I didn't need your help human!" she snarled as she tried to regain her aura of strength after such a show of weakness.

"Hmmmm. Interesting." Said Washu as she aimed her holo-computer at the human/gargoyle and began to scan her thoroughly, "From what I can tell from these scans the energy that allows a living thing to maintain molecular cohesion was severely disrupted. If she'd gotten any closer to the portal it's quite possible she would have disintegrated like a staked vampire."

"Any idea what might've caused it?" he asked not willing to even bother asking the centuries old genius if her portal might have been the cause.

"It could be many things but until I've found the answer I'm afraid we're going to have to put our travel plans on hold ladies." Washu replied with a sigh as she shut down the portal as well as her holo-computer.

This of course got a growl from Demona, a look of glee on Starfire's face and a raised eyebrow from T'pol while the tenants of the HQ had just as many mixed reactions. Personally he wasn't sure what to think because on the one side he was glad that both Kori and T'Pol were sticking around since it made his girls happy. On the other hand keeping someone as ill tempered as Demona or someone with self-control issues like Washu around was like watching a fuse burn away. It was only a matter of time before something exploded and knowing his luck he would be sitting right next to the proverbial stick of TNT when it blew.

"Oh that won't be necessary Ms. Washu." Came a voice the core Scoobies recognized all too well, "I'll be happy to explain why Demona was unable to pass through your portal."

As one the entire group turned and looked towards the source of the voice and found the culprit standing not twenty feet away looking at them with a smile on his demonic face.

"Well, well, Lord D'Hoffryn, just the guy I wanted to kill…I mean see." Xander said with a politeness that was seriously transparent.

"Still consider yourself the joker aren't you **Mr. Harris**?" D'Hoffryn asked rhetorically with emphasis on the name Xander hated to be called, "Well we'll see how long that lasts won't we."

"Get to the point horn head." Xander demanded with a voice as cold as the arctic.

"Well as you have no doubt surmised I am the one behind your four new tenants here. A gift, I suppose you could say, for the excellent way you treated Anyanka." D'Hoffryn explained giving no sign that he noticed the Xan-man's hostility, "The first feature you just witnessed was just a precaution I took to make sure these lovely ladies didn't run off before they got a chance to get to know you better. You'll find that that each of them will experience the same unpleasant sensations if they attempt to return to their home dimensions. Basically it means that they will have the rest of your natural life to get to know you better."

"Wretch!! I'll tear your head off!!" Demona yelled as she dove at the demon lord with hands outstretched like claws aimed right for the head vengeance demon's throat.

Sadly the conclusion of such a dramatic act was a little anti-climactic as instead of the satisfying sight of seeing the currently human gargoyle pound D'Hoffryn bloody she passed right through him as though he were a ghost. The only plus side of the failed attack, that Xander could see at least, was that unable to stop herself Demona collided with the wall directly behind the magical projection knocking herself unconscious. That would at least allow the others to keep the situation from devolving into mindless violence that would hopefully lead to some more answers.

"Quite the fiery redhead isn't she?" D'Hoffryn asked with the same interest as one would an unusually colored dog.

"Doesn't this break any sort of cosmic rules?" Dawn asked with some uncertainty, "I mean I might not be the TV geek that Xander is but T'Pol, Demona, Starfire and Washu are pretty important characters. Won't their home realities get messed up with them missing?"

"Such a clever girl! To answer your question Key made flesh no it won't break any rules." D'Hoffryn replied with false praise, "As you are no doubt aware there are an infinite number of dimensions and realities that exist to form a multi-verse of sorts. Some of these realities are so alike that only a true expert could tell them apart while others are at the opposite side of that situation. I just plucked these four from the realities were their lives were destined to take a different path from the one you likely know."

"Destiny is an illusion constructed by races desiring to possess a measure of certainty in their lives." T'Pol stated an aloof scientific manner.

"Perhaps in your reality my dear but here it is very real as I'm sure Ms. Summers could tell you." D'Hoffryn declared before turning as if to leave even though he wasn't actually there, "Oh! There is one more feature attached to each of these ladies that I thought I would wait to activate until the right moment. Enjoy Alexander Harris!"

With a crack of energy and a flash of light the demon lord vanished leaving the present members of the newly reformed Council wondering what new 'feature' D'Hoffryn had been talking about.

"Oooohhh Xander!" Starfire said playfully as she slipped her arms around him from behind, "Since it appears that I am stuck here perhaps you can teach me more about humans. Particularly any mating rituals you know about. I **promise** to be a **very good** student!"

"Hold your horses green eyes! Xander will be too busy helping me around the lab to be bothered with such trivial things." Washu said as she approached from his left in a distinctly more **adult** form, "In fact I think I'll see what I can do about assembling a prosthetic eye to replace the one he lost. So I'll need to keep him close in order to make sure it's a proper fit and all."

"Ms. Washu, it is highly unethical for you to abuse your intellect employing such underhanded tactics, so I cannot let you manipulate Mr. Harris like that." T'Pol stated trying to maintain a façade of objectivity despite how her eyes were spitting fire at the pink-haired genius, "As such I shall remain close to Xander as much as possible in order to ensure you do not abduct him."

Looking back and forth as well as behind trying to figure out what the frilly **hell** was going on he wondered where **these** ideas had come from and why they had taken up residence in the heads of these three ladies. They sure as heck hadn't seemed interested in him during the past five weeks and their sudden attraction to him right now certainly looked unnatural from his point of view. It was then that the truth hit him square in the face like a sledge hammer and he realized that **this** was the feature D'Hoffryn was talking about. Somehow the jackass had put a spell on the four women very similar to the botched Valentine's Day spell he'd attempted to payback Cordelia for dumping him earlier in the day. While a few quick glances at the other females in the room told him thankfully that they weren't affected it was a small comfort given how powerful the ones that **were** affected were known to be. After all Starfire was powerful enough to demolish half the city all by herself and Demona could claw through steel doors like cardboard. Even worse was that with the intellects that both Washu and T'Pol had there potential for destruction was far greater than the two warrior women were capable of **combined**.

In short, as Giles would no doubt say soon, he **and** the Earth were doomed!

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	15. An OUTRAGEOUS Return!

"An Outrageous Return"

Jem and the Holograms/BtVS crossover

Disclaimer: I just wanted to make it clear that I do not own the characters, shows or lyrics contained in this drabble/short and am most definitely **NOT** making one red cent off of this story. Therefore I would appreciate not being dragged into any legal proceedings concerning copyright problems or anything.

Note: I know that to a lot of you readers a guy writing a fanfic involving an girl band cartoon from the 80's might seem weird but even I can't predict or control where my plot bunnies will come from or whether or not I will be able to fight them off. With this idea I managed to fight off any desire to turn this into a full fledged fanfic so this is pretty much just to get this creative idea out of my head and done with. In short it would take a large amount of demand from you the readers in order to change this from a one shot short/drabble into a full fledged fanfic. So depending on who you are if you want more of this then review this idea and encourage like minded friends to do the same.

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Outskirts of New York City, One Year After the Destruction of Sunnydale 

"So which house are we going to check out this time Giles?" Buffy asked as she watched the neighborhood they'd entered pass by her passenger side window.

"One that I think might suit our needs as a possible New York safe house for the new Council." Replied Rupert Giles her Watcher for the last eight years both officially and unofficially, "While our main base of operations might be in Cleveland with the Hellmouth there are still other locations that must also be monitored for demonic activity."

"If you say so. Just so long as we get back in time for my trip to Italy in three weeks." Buffy said not really interested in house shopping especially if it wasn't going to be her house.

The truth of the matter was that if it wasn't for the pressure by the other core members of the new Slayer and Watcher Council she wouldn't be here at all. She had never been Miss. Administrator back when they had been in Sunnydale and that hadn't changed even though her former hometown was now a big sinkhole. Still as the oldest living Slayer and the one responsible for turning destiny on its ear by Calling all the potential Slayers that final day in Sunnyhell the others insisted that she had certain obligations. The way they explained it she was like the spokesperson for the new generation of Slayers as well as the example that the majority of them would strive to imitate. Never mind the fact that there were other Slayers just as noteworthy that survived Sunnydale or that Faith was a close runner up for oldest living Slayer. In the end they had come to a compromise with her: the new Council would foot the bill for her 'vacation' from Slayage if she would at least stop by and inspect newly established Slayer safe houses. All she needed to do was give the houses a good inspection and then call them in with her report before going out to have fun in whatever city or town she was in. Giles had made it clear that he did not expect a concise or professional report from her (even made some comment about expecting that from Xander first) but hoped she would at least take inspecting the buildings somewhat seriously.

_Funny how during those last days in Sunnydale they were all about making me not any more important than anyone else and now they practically made me the Queen of Slayers._ She thought to herself with some bitterness as she remembered how she had been treated before, during and after the disaster that was the first vineyard assault.

With a sigh she knew that she shouldn't still be bitter over the whole event especially since the gang had gotten back together in time to save the day and had pretty much made up with one another but their betrayal still hurt even now. Even the acknowledging of their side of things, that the non-Slayer members of the team did contribute to the fight just as much as she did, didn't change the fact that one screw up was all it took to make them kick her out of her own home. How was she to know Caleb would be that strong? All they had known going in about the evil preacher guy was that he had a full mad on towards teenage girls and was commanding the Bringers. That was **IT!** They hadn't known going in that he was just as fast and as strong as a Slayer or that he had a few slick moves all his own. It was like leading a team into a camp run by hippies and finding out at the last minute that they had a **tank** ready and waiting for them. However the others hadn't seemed to realise that and assumed that just because she was the leader that she would have been able to predict something like that and plan for it. Even when they had time to come up with a new plan and she decided that they should go back in they were against her. She remembered at the time thinking that going back in would be the last thing Caleb and the First Evil would expect. She had been certain from the beginning that there had to be something at the vineyard otherwise the First wouldn't have such a strong defence around it. They just looked at her like she had lost her mind and then proceeded to tell her off making it sound like she was being reckless when the bottom line was that they were just scared.

Scared of getting hurt or perhaps even dying.

_Not that there's anything wrong with being scared of dying or getting hurt._ She thought as a part of her mind began to take note of the upscale houses on the street they were driving down, _But they were acting like the whole thing was going to be like some prime time TV show where the good guys never die or get hurt all that bad. _

Ever since she had first died at the Masters hands her first year in Sunnydale she knew what it meant to be the Slayer, how it could possibly end, and she had accepted that. It didn't mean that she was going to stop trying to live her life and hope for a brighter tomorrow but it also didn't mean that she'd let any fluffy daydreams blind her when it was time to get serious. She had known from the very moment signs of the First trying to end the line of Slayers popped into her dreams that things would be different that year and it took the death of one of the potentials Giles had brought with him to really drive it home. So she had taken off the kid gloves and tried her best to lead the team to victory not bothering to sell the girls any sugar coated promises and serving up the truth instead.

_I have to believe in a better world._ Giles had said one night during those troubled times.

_Go ahead._ She'd replied with a stone cold realistic frame of mind, _I have to live in this one._

That one exchange had pretty much summed up her entire outlook during the struggle with the First Evil and how she believed the battle should be fought. She remembered trying to impress on the others how not everyone was going to make it out of the fight alive and how there was going to be pain involved. She had tried to make them understand that the very idea that they'd all come out of the war with nothing worse than maybe one broken bone was ridiculous. However they refused to let go of their fantasies and when reality had come knocking after the failed first assault on the vineyard they'd all blamed it on her. Even Anya, who'd probably never fought unless she had to in all her years as both a vengeance demon and a human, had heaped the blame on her making her out to be worse than she really was. Even the rest of the gang who had been with her for the past seven years in Sunnydale didn't seem to realise that this battle with the First wouldn't be like the previous apocalypses they'd thwarted. They all seemed to be stuck thinking that fatalities would be kept in the single digits and there'd only be one major hospital visit after the big finale.

Idiots!

Still in the end they had managed to pull it together and save the day and while time had mostly healed the scar created by their betrayal it still stung when they took a position the opposite of what they had assumed in Sunnydale. She did her best to look on the bright side of things and remember that it pretty much meant a paid vacation around the world with none of the cash coming out of her own bank account. That would certainly make things easier for her financially and if all she had to do was look a place over and mail give a three-page report to Giles she'd do it.

Assuming of course she managed to make her flight and didn't get bogged down by this little excursion to inspect the New York safe house possibilities. At least the gang was here to back her up and she had to admit that their presence kept the situation from being completely boring. Dawn was here to check out the Empire State University campus and see if she would take a few courses there and Willow was with them since she'd be the one putting up the magical safeguards on whatever place they wound up buying. Faith was also present since she would be the one put in charge of the place once everything was up and running. Giles wanted her around so she could familiarize herself with the area and the place that would be her home for the foreseeable future. Rona was along for the ride along with Chao-Ahn in order to learn from Faith before being shipped off to their posts at other Council safe houses around the world. Topping off the rather unique collection of former Sunnydale residents was Xander who would be working with the construction team on their chosen house to make sure it was Slayer proof. After all it was one thing for a house to be able to stand up to years of use by a large group of normal people but it was quite another for it to be able to stand up to a group of newbie Slayers who didn't know their own strength yet. Add to the possibility of various demons and baddies paying unannounced visits and you need one helluva sturdy house to meet the standards of the new Council. All together it was probably one of the most diverse groups of people around and that would make things quite interesting or potentially volatile depending on how things went.

"Hey Giles? What's with all the upscale mansions on this street?" she asked taking notice of the big money buildings they were driving by, "I thought you said the Council was on a strict budget and couldn't afford things like this."

"Contrary to how they may look Buffy these mansions and houses are actually being sold at surprisingly affordable prices." Giles replied as he began looking at the numbers next to the front gates of some of the places, "From what the real estate agent told me most of these houses are what's left of the 'dot com' phase and certain formerly wealthy people falling on hard times. In fact if I recall correctly the woman who we'll be meeting once lived at the place we will be looking at. Although she did not disclose how it happened I believe some tragedy occurred that caused she and her family to fall into near financial ruin. She's tried to hold onto this house for as long as she could but apparently the cost of maintaining it has caught up with her."

"Just what kind of house are we talking about?" Dawn asked looking at a house on one side of the street before looking at another no doubt trying to guess which one was the one they'd be looking at.

"Well I believe it was once called—" Giles began to reply before his eyes spotted the number he'd been looking for that matched the address he'd been given, "Oh here we are."

Driving up between two stone pillars with rusted metal fences stretching off in different directions they quickly made it to the house only to find that 'house' was a poor description. A three-story mansion with several additions built onto the side and a pool in the back yard that looked like it belonged to a university by its size. All in all it looked just like the sort of home most teenage girls imagined themselves living in once they struck it rich in either the movie business, TV or music. As they pulled up to the front door of the place they found a woman in her mid-to-late twenties waiting for them wearing your standard ladies business suit. She had blond hair that was slightly wild looking as if she normally had it all over the place but had tried to make it presentable just for this occasion. When Buffy caught her eyes though she could see a deep sadness in them and she began to believe that the woman had tried everything to keep the place but in the end couldn't afford to do so. She remembered what that was like after her mom and dad divorced forcing her to leave L.A for Sunnydale. She was forced to leave the only home she'd known to start over someplace else. It was a sad scene but hopefully, if this place met the Scooby gang's needs, the woman would have enough money to make a fresh start and start creating new memories somewhere else.

"Mr. Giles?" the woman asked attempting to put a professional face over her saddened one.

"Yes and you must be Ms. Larsen. Thank you for agreeing to allow us to view your home." Giles said sounding as polite as possible and gentle since he had obviously picked up on the same vibes she had.

"Please call me Ashley Mr. Giles and it was really no trouble." She replied with surprisingly perfect acting to cover her true feelings, "Are these some of the young ladies you mentioned?"

"Some of them yes. While not all of them will be staying here each of them will likely pass through from time to time." Giles replied and then began making with the formal introductions.

"Well if you'll follow me I'll show you around the place and then we can start with the negotiating." Ashley Larsen said before turning towards the front door of the place.

"Wait! Negotiating? You mean there's no set price?" Dawn asked sounding a little puzzled that the house's price wasn't set like foot at a supermarket or her favourite music CD at the store.

"Not exactly. While there is a range that the selling price has to stick in where it sticks depends what you think of the place and what I think of you guys later." Ms. Larsen replied with only a brief look over her shoulder, "After just because I have to sell the place to make ends meet doesn't mean I can't choose who I sell it to right?"

With those words Ashley took the group of Scoobies on a tour of the place from top to bottom and one side of the house to the other. All in all it looked like exactly the sort of thing that the new Council was looking for since it could both house quite a few people and had room for some Slayerly additions. It was also tickling her spidey senses in a weird way, not evil exactly, sort of like a memory struggling to bring itself to the surface. It was little things at first like the view through a certain window here and a familiar looking room there but she definitely felt like she should know this place for some reason. All through the rest of the tour it acted like an annoying itch that she couldn't get rid of and when they finally came to the end in a large living room she was almost unable to focus on the discussion at hand.

"Well I must admit Ms. Larsen that your home certainly does possess the sort of attributes we're looking for in house." Giles stated being completely honest and looking like he was two steps from increasing his offer for the place.

"I'm glad you like it Mr. Giles." Ashley said with a polite yet firm smile, "However you still have to convince me that you and your friends are the right people to become the new owners. Perhaps you could start by elaborating on what exactly my home will be used for?"

This was met with some hesitance from Giles and it was obvious he hadn't thought to prepare more than a one-page cover story for purchasing the place. Deciding she might as well start leading by example the way the others apparently wanted her to she leaned forward in her seat drawing all attention to her.

"Basically Ashley we'd be using this as a home for teenage girls and young women who need a place to stay until they find out what they want to do in life." Buffy replied trying to sound professional about the sales pitch she was delivering, "We were once a part of an organization that helped girls with unique talents that for one reason or another didn't really have a place to call home. Unfortunately about a year ago that group went belly up and we've been trying ever since to put things back together and give it a fresh spin. We just need places to house all these girls and in New York this looked like the best place."

"Oh really?" Ashley asked with a weird harsh edge to her voice, "Just what's so **unique** about these girls?"

That of course caused even her, the oldest living Slayer, to stumble a bit since she couldn't exactly tell the truth but at the same time didn't have much else to offer.

"Well… some of them are gifted athletes and some of the others are pretty good when it comes to hitting the books." She replied trying to keep any sign of 'I-just-made-this-up' tone out of her voice.

For a moment she waited with baited breath hoping against hope that that would be enough to satisfy the woman in front of them otherwise the chances of them getting this place would probably drop through the floor. It was clear that Ms. Larsen was at war with herself with one half not entirely trusting the Scoobies while the other seemed to possess a growing spring of hope. In the end it looked like it would come down to one final question and **that** would decide how things would turn out.

"Just how far are you prepared to go to help these girls and young women?" Ashley asked as though it was the most important question the Scoobies would ever be asked, "Are you willing to put as much work into this place and those girls as I have over the past twelve years?"

"I promise you Ashley that all of us here will be doing out best to make sure that this home and the girls that'll be living here will get nothing but the best." Buffy replied meaning every word she said both in her mind as well as her heart.

"I hope I'm doing the right thing Jerrica." Ashley said almost too softly to hear before saying, "Alright Mr. Giles you've got yourself a house."

"Wait! You said Jerrica just now? What was her last name?" Buffy asked as the name the woman mentioned caused the itch in her mind to grow into a full body rash in the blink of an eye.

"Benton. Her name was Jerrica Benton. What's it to you?" Ashley asked with some hostility at having to answer a question that had personal meaning for her.

"Oh…**my…GOD!**" she exclaimed as she began to look about the room with new eyes and in the space of three seconds she knew where she was more than ever, "This is Starlight mansion!!!"

That named caused the pieces to click into place for Dawn as well and in moments she was standing up looking all over the place with awe and wonder plastered on her face. She could tell that her sister felt the same way she did and all of a sudden it was like she was nine years old again and Dawn looked like she'd start behaving like a four year old. She knew that right now she shouldn't be acting like she was but knowing where she was she couldn't help herself. She had no doubt that if Giles was able to pay a visit to Merlin's laboratory or Xander got dumped in Superman's fortress of solitude they'd be acting the same way.

"What's got you two in full geek mode?" Faith asked speaking for the rest of the group who apparently didn't have the same taste in music when they were younger.

"This house was where a band called Jem and the Holograms lived about twelve years ago!" Buffy replied managing to get her excitement under control enough to reply, "When I was nine they were **the** girl band and I had all their albums! Mom once said that my room was practically a shrine to them."

"Yeah and mine wasn't much better! I remember every Halloween 'til the early nineties I dressed up as one of the Holograms." Dawn put in still looking like she'd start jumping up and down like a kid at any moment, "I think I actually still have a few of their albums packed away in some box somewhere."

"I think I heard of 'em from my big sis before I got picked up by the Wa—old guys." Rona said managing to catch herself before saying something potentially troublesome, "Didn't they break up for some reason back in '93?"

"October 6th, 1993." Buffy supplied promptly like she had the date memorized and always at the front of her mind, "There was never really a reason given in any of the papers or on any of the music TV shows besides 'personal reasons'."

"It was a little more complicated than that but none of us wanted the truth to get out." Ashley said sadly as memories of the past danced in her eyes, "We wanted everyone to remember Jem and the Holograms at their best."

"You don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to Ashley." Dawn said taking note of the sadness on the woman's face.

"No. If you guys are going to be inheriting the place you might as well know the most important piece of history about it." Ashley said waving off any attempt at sympathy, "It was the summer of '93 and the place was in full swing like it usually was with everyone doing their thing. Jem and the band had a big gig planned over in Paris and Jerrica was getting ready to fly ahead of them with Rio to nail down the details."

"Everyone huddled around the phone when they called each night to check up on us and let us know how things were going over with the French. Everyone was excited about flying to France for the gig and were all ready to go when we got a call." Ashley said with her resolve to telling the tale wavering a moment before firming up, "Jerrica and Rio had gotten into a car accident outside of Paris. They'd both been rushed to the nearest hospital but the prognosis wasn't good. Countess Danielle du Voisin was the one that called since she'd been there on business and had met with Jerrica and Rio earlier that day."

"We all flew out right away, dropping anything we'd been doing, to be with them but by the time we arrived it was all pretty much over. Rio lost both of his legs and… a-and Jerrica didn't make it." Ashley said her voice cracking a bit as she relived the events of over a decade ago in her mind, "To say that we were all a wreck would have been a big understatement. Jerrica had been a mother to a lot of us Starlight girls and been the business smarts for Jem and the Holograms. The funeral was a big affair with people coming from all over to pay their respects with some of them even being enemies. To make matters worse no one had seen Jem since Jerrica had left for Paris and every one of us girls wanted to know where she was and why she hadn't been at the funeral."

"Kimber had been the one to tell us that Jerrica's death had hit Jem harder than just about anyone besides herself. The lady just couldn't bear to be anywhere that reminded her of Jerrica so she just left never to be seen again." Ashley said in an almost dead tone of voice, "After that things pretty much went downhill for us. Kimber and the others did their best to run Starlight Music themselves and even tried to keep the Holograms in the top ten. Unfortunately without Jem as the lead attraction or Jerrica getting all the best gigs the band's popularity took a serious drop. Eventually Aja and the others gave up on keeping the Holograms alive and focused instead on recruiting new talent."

"For awhile it worked and we even managed to give a coupe of unknown musicians their big break but in the end it turned out we were just delaying the inevitable. We all tried our best but none of us had the same business knack that Jerrica had and eventually Starlight had to declare bankruptcy. Eric Raymond and the Misfits must have had one helluva blast to celebrate that!" Ashley explained making her feelings for the shady manager and his band clear, "From there the priority was in keeping Starlight Mansion as a home for foster girls since it was pretty much all we had left from the good times. Without Starlight music as a source of income though money dried up quick and it was back to how things had been in the old Starlight House with everyone working like crazy to make ends meet. After a year it began to show all over and for some it got to be too much."

"Terri went off to get her law degree, Lela went with Shana to try again to break into the fashion business and Marianne went to work for Lin-Z on her show. Before too long it was just me and Nancy working to keep this place alive." Ashley said looking like she was only admitting defeat reluctantly, "As you can see though it was all for nothing but if you're being straight with me about making this a home for **unique** girls then I know I'm leaving things in good hands."

By the end of the last Starlight girl's story there was not a person in the room that didn't feel for what she had been through and had a new reason to want to treat this mansion right. For Buffy and Dawn it was a part of their childhood worship of Jem and the Holograms that provided them a way to pay their idols back for their wonderful music. For Willow, Xander and Faith it was more a desire to show their respect to people who worked so hard to help others without fighting the darkness. As for the rest they just felt a certain kinship with the people who had once lived in the mansion and promised to never forget those that had come before.

"Thank you for your confidence Ms. Larsen. I promise you that we will show this place the respect it deserves." Giles said with more sincerity than anyone else.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Five Weeks Later, Early Afternoon 

"Hey Dawn? Could you hand me the Pledge?" Buffy asked as she finished clearing the dust off of a table they'd dug out of the mansion's attic.

"Sure Buff'!" Dawn said grabbing the spray can from the coffee table near her and tossed it in the direction of her older sister.

Catching it with the ease that only a Slayer could manage she immediately sprayed a good amount on the table she'd just cleared the dust off of and began wiping. As she worked she marvelled at how much time had passed since Giles had signed the papers to the mansion and how much things had changed for her as well. Gone was the fatigue of seven long years of being the Slayer and instead was the normal fatigue of bringing a home back to its former glory. Surprise of surprises she felt **good** doing this normal work instead of slaying and considering how **dedicated** she'd been in doing chores back in Sunnydale most of the others were shocked. When asked why she wasn't looking for ways out of the cleaning and repairing she was only able to tell them that she felt like she was actually making a difference restoring the place. Naturally they pointed out that she **had** been making a difference as the Slayer since almost every May/June she managed to save the entire world in one fell swoop. What she hadn't told the others was that while it was true that being the Slayer allowed her to do some pretty impressive hero stuff it had become harder in recent years to **see** if she'd made any progress against the forces of evil or was just maintaining a stalemate. She wasn't delusional enough to think she could really change the status quo between good and evil all that much but it'd just be nice if she could know whether or not she was making **any** difference at all.

In the end it had been this feeling of progress and accomplishment that came from restoring the mansion that had caused her to pass the paid world tour trip to Faith when the time for her flight to Italy came around. Most of the others had been a little shocked by this but Faith accepted within seconds and immediately left to pack for the trip. That had been a week ago and despite all the places she could have been to and seen she didn't regret giving up the world tour for this. After giving one final wipe with her handful of paper towel she dumped it into a trash bag and decided to head upstairs and see if she could give Xander a hand. The one-eyed carpenter had been scouting out areas in the mansion that could be redone to house some of the Slayerly additions that'd be needed when the newbie Slayers arrived. He'd managed to get a copy of the architectural plans for the place and was going over everything so they could make the most of the space they had. Personally she thought they might actually have **too much** room but Giles had mentioned that the space would be filled in quick with weapons, books and the general teenage girl paraphernalia. Reaching the top of the stairs she headed towards the area on the plans that she'd seen him frowning at breakfast that morning figuring that'd be the place to find him. Turning a corner three minutes later she wasn't disappointed when she saw her Xander-shaped friend standing in front of a wall with a look that reminded her of when he'd spent three days straight trying to figure out a brain teaser Willow had given him.

_Better give him a break before his brain overheats._ She thought with some humour as she walked up to him a little louder than normal.

This did the trick since as soon as the sound of lead feet hit Xander's ears he looked up from the plans he'd been staring at and smiled when he saw it was her.

"Hey Buff! How're things going downstairs?" he asked with his lopsided grin.

"Well Dawn and I have pretty much finished cleaning the main living room. Giles and Rona should be finished with the yard soon and I think Willow said she'd have the internet connection up and running by this afternoon." Buffy replied as she looked at the same wall her friend had been staring at, "How about you? What's got you stumped about this wall? Is it lopsided or something?"

"No but it's just that this wall shouldn't be here." Xander replied as he began his comparison between the plans and wall once again, "There should be a twenty-five by thirty feet space here for some kind of lounge or second floor living room but instead there's this. I've been trying to decide whether the people that built this place just made a last minute change or if that Benton lady made some changes after her people moved in."

"Well then let's take a look then." Buffy said as she clenched her right hand into a fist and walked up to the wall.

Without waiting for Xander's permission she cocked her right arm and let loose with a Slayer strength punch breaking through the plaster and some of the wood behind it easily. To her that pretty much settled that the wall had been an addition after the place had been built and that it'd be possible to tear this wall down if they needed to make more room. It wasn't until after she removed her arm from the wall though that she spotted something reflecting coming from inside the walled off space. Her curiosity piqued she made the hole her fist had made a little bigger and then peeked through to get a better look. What she could see wasn't much because of the lack of light but it looked like some kind of high tech machinery but oddly designed since it looked like it belonged on the set of some eighties sci-fi show. Suddenly a thought struck her, maybe it was a left behind piece of equipment belonging to Jem and the Holograms, and that was enough for her to completely block out Xander who was probably asking her to stop or at least get a sledgehammer. With almost a single-minded determination she began to break down the wall in front of her until a door sized hole had been made. Pausing only to swipe the flashlight that had been hanging from Xander's tool belt she switched it on and entered the mysterious room to take a look at what she hoped was a piece of music history.

_Looks like someone needed anger management classes!_ She thought as she took in the obviously bashed piece of equipment.

Now that she had more light at her disposal and a better view she could see that someone had taken a crowbar to the large piece of electrical equipment smashing everything made of glass and putting some decent sized dents in the metal parts. It looked like a cross between a computer, a pipe organ and some sort of light show generator but was unlike anything she'd seen in her entire life. Not one of the televised concerts or the one her mom had taken her to in L.A that Jem and her band had performed had included this piece of equipment. Then out of the corner of her eye she spotted something on the ground that sparkled when her flashlight touched it briefly. Focusing the light on the sparkle she found a pair of pink star earrings on the floor and after picking them up she recognised them as the earrings that Jem always wore everywhere she went. Had Jem done this out of grief after Jerrica Benton died? They must have been pretty close to provoke a reaction like this. Putting the earrings in her pocket she went back to looking at the damaged piece of equipment set against the far wall.

_I wonder if it could be repaired?_ She idly thought as she briefly tried to make a guess at the damage before she remembered she knew next to nothing about machines much less how to repair something like this.

"Buffy why did you bust a hole in the wall?" came Willow's questioning voice from behind her.

Turning around she found that just about everyone else who had been in the house was there and looking at her as though she was going to start demolishing more things at any moment.

"I was just trying to help Xander figure out why the blueprints of the place didn't match with what was here and **look what I FOUND!**" she said with returning excitement believing now that she could get Willow to repair the piece of equipment.

"WOW! You think this belonged to the Holograms?" Dawn asked since it took the younger Summers sister less than a minute to put the pieces together.

"I think so Dawnie! Hey Willow? Do you think you could get this thing running again?" Buffy asked with the discovery of the Jem earrings momentarily slipping her mind.

"I don't know Buffy. This isn't exactly something I've ever seen before." Willow replied making her own visual survey of the machine.

"C'mon Willow! You're like the super genius of the group!" Buffy said deciding that flattery might get the redhead to see things her way, "I bet you can get this thing going in less than two weeks!"

"Yeah! Besides some of the baby Slayers might like having a high tech piece of music gear around to practice with." Dawn said applying a little practical reasoning to the mix.

"While I share Willow's lack of knowledge about this particular I must point out that it could be quite expensive to restore this machine and we are on a tight enough budget as it is." Giles pointed out trying gently to deny the Summers girls their request.

"I'm willing to pay for some of it with the money from my savings account." Buffy said with determination since she refused to give up on this without a fight.

"Me too! I'm even willing to check out the area for any odd jobs I can get paid for." Dawn said siding with her sister in a rare example of familial solidarity.

"Well Giles?" Xander said showing some interest in hearing what reason the elder Watcher would give to counter the blonde Slayer and her sister.

"Very well. Do what you will." Giles said with a sigh realizing that he would not be winning this battle, "I would only hope that you finish your duties in restoring the house before working on this machine afterwards."

"Sure thing Giles!" Buffy said with a smile wider and brighter than it had been in a while.

"Thanks Giles!" Dawn said as she used a little emotional blackmail to seal the deal by hugging the British man and giving him a light peck on the cheek.

"Yes… well… let's get back to cleaning the yard Rona." Giles said grabbing a hold of the first feasible reason for leaving that he could come up with.

"Right behind you Mr. Giles." Rona said with a lack of enthusiasm that made it clear she wanted to avoid that particular duty but hadn't been able to think up a half decent excuse.

"So when do we start?" Buffy asked turning to her genius friend eager to see the machine belonging to her childhood idol repaired.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Ten Days Later, Kitchen, Morning 

"So how're the repairs going Willow?" Buffy asked watching the redhead enter the kitchen with a notebook in hand and a pen tucked behind her ear.

"Better than I expected given how bad it looked at the start. I think whoever smashed it was just swinging wild instead of aiming for anything in particular." Willow replied as she sat down at the table and grabbed a piece of toast before pouring herself a glass of orange juice, "Still there are some parts I'm going have to go all wicca on to put back together but the rest I should be able to get replacement parts for. My biggest problem is making sure all the information stored on the thing gets transferred over to the new parts. Don't want to leave anything important out."

"I'm sure you'll be able to do it Willow." Buffy said with the utmost confidence that her genius friend would be able to pull of this repair job even if she had to bring out a miracle or two.

"Well I'm afraid I shall not be able to be around when you finally do manage to get that contraption working again." Came the voice of a worried and somewhat irritable Rupert Giles as he walked into the kitchen with suitcase in hand as well as all his tweed on.

"What's wrong Giles? Did something happen?" she asked not liking the sharp edge to her former Watcher's voice or the concern on his face.

"I'm afraid that I've been informed of some questionable practices back in Cleveland at the Council headquarters." Giles replied taking his glasses off and giving them a good cleaning, "Apparently Kennedy has been exercising her authority as senior Slayer in charge a bit too much and it is beginning to stray close to an abuse of power. So I've decided to head back myself and determine the situation in person. If matters turn out to be as described I might be sending you some young Slayers earlier than we had planned while I attempt to talk some sense into Kennedy."

"Do you want me to come along Giles?" Willow asked almost immediately, "I know Kennedy a bit better than you do so I might have better luck getting through to her if she's going a little tyranty."

"No that will not be necessary Willow. What I've been told is mere opinion at the moment and for all we know my informant is merely lying in order to better her own position." Giles replied as he put his glasses back on, "However if things do turn out to be dire I'll be certain to let you know."

From there it was a series of goodbyes and 'call me' words before the Watcher got into a cab that had pulled up to the front outside and was driven to the local airport. Looking at Willow the blonde Slayer could tell that the wicca was feeling a little torn about where she should be at the moment despite the fact that she and the newbie Slayer were no longer an item. It had been about three months before they came to New York to scope out Starlight Mansion (yes she was still calling it that even though it was there place now) and it was clear that the genius Rosenberg still wasn't completely over the break up. After Sunnydale became a sinkhole it had been great according to the mistress of magic but once a command structure began to be set up for the new Council Kennedy's behaviour began to take a rather ambitious turn. Oh the brat still challenged Slayer Summers every chance she got but she was also beginning to curry favour with some of the other newbie Slayers and was among the first to greet new arrivals. Things took a serious turn for the worse when Willow found Kennedy fishing through the wicca's magic files for something. Needless to say there was yelling, slandering and in the end both had stalked off in a rage with neither even wanting to be in the same room with the other for a week. Eventually, Willow being the persons she was, the wicca had tried to extend the olive branch between the two of them as well as make an attempt to reclaim what she and Kennedy had once had. Unfortunately the newbie Slayer had been stubborn and even worse had tried to make it sound like she'd been planning on dumping Willow for awhile now and was actually thankful for an excuse to do it sooner than later.

_Spoiled bitch!_ Buffy thought with a temporary rise in anger, _Using Willow like that and messing with her emotions. Barely a **year** after Tara was killed too! _

Forcing the anger she was feeling back down she tried to focus more on the positive things that had happened lately. For one thing she had gotten a job as a waitress at a local club to help supplement the funds from the Council that was still going towards bringing the mansion up to snuff. Of course sizeable part of those funds were also going towards restoring the machine they'd found in that walled off room but it wasn't effecting the overall mansion restoration efforts all that much. Willow was also putting in some time at the local Apple store teaching some computer classes for some of their more advanced classes and was getting paid a pretty fat pay check all things considered. Dawn had started taking some classes and E.S.U but was off to a rocky start in terms of the marks she got back for various assignments. Still her little sister was determined to make it work and the blonde Slayer had no doubt that Dawn would manage somehow. Even if for some reason she flunked out the youngest Summers daughter would still have a place to live and friends to back her up.

Xander was still pretty much the leader for the restoration projects around the grounds and was working pretty close with Rona and Chao-Ahn in those areas. Also, unless she was seriously starting to lose her edge, it looked like the Chinese girl was beginning to develop a slight crush on the one-eyed carpenter. The Xan-man was of course completely oblivious to this and probably saw her helpful attitude and looks as nothing more than a strong friendship in the making. Whether or not it would develop into anything more meaningful was still up in the air but she thought it would be good for Xander to get back into the dating thing. Sure there was something of an age difference thing but considering his last serious girlfriend was over a thousand years older than him she doubted it would matter if his girlfriend was younger than him. Besides if the crush Rona had turned into something more it would be doubtful as to whether or not the Xan-man would be able to hold her off for long before giving in. If nothing else it would be good for a few 'all-in-good-fun' laughs.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Five Days Later, The Formerly Walled Off Room, Afternoon 

"So what's the what Willow?" Buffy asked entering the room through the door that Xander had constructed around the hole she'd made over a week earlier, "You sounded pretty excited about something over the phone."

"Oh Buffy! I owe you big for finding something like this!" Willow said as she virtually bounced from one end of the machine to another installing circuit boards and plugging in cables, "It took me awhile but three days ago I finally figured out what this machine did! Whoever made this was a certified genius, someone **decades** ahead of his time, and I think I managed to piece it almost completely back together data and all!"

Willow's excitement was contagious and bouncy energy was beginning to bubble up with the blonde Slayer along with making her want to know exactly what this machine did.

"So what is it? Some kind of laser light show generator that some designer went too far with so it was walled away never to be seen again?" Xander asked obviously amused at his bestest friend's behaviour but still clueless as to what the machine did.

"Well you're kinda right but also way wrong. It's so **much** more than that!" Willow said looking like she'd finished the last of the assembling she needed to do, "Hopefully in a few seconds I'll be able to show you exactly what this baby can do. I just want to do one final magic check to make sure there aren't any loose connections ro shorts just waiting to happen. I might have been thorough while I was putting it back together but I could have missed something on one of my caffeine highs."

"Someone let you have **coffee**?!" Xander asked with a worried look on his face as he took an unconscious step away from the machine in front of him, "Who?"

"Hey she said she needed something to keep her awake while she pulled an all nighter." Rona said looking a little sheepish at her apparent mistake.

"ANYway! It looks like everything is where it should be so if you'll all take a step or two back, just for safeties sake of course, I'll turn it on." Willow requested before going over to what looked like the central console and began typing in commands.

Despite the **utmost** confidence that they had in the redheaded genius everyone took **four steps** away from the machine. After a minute some of them, mostly Dawn and Buffy, thought that perhaps there was some kind of problem but it turned out that their concerns were unfounded. With a moment of random flickering the lights on the machine came to life and all could hear the growing hum of a machine coming to life. Then all at once things began to take a turn for the weird when beams of light began to fly from the machine and where they touched objects began to appear out of nowhere. In some cases it was just plants and furniture but in others it was living things that moved as well as sounded real. Fortunately these manifestations didn't linger for long since ten seconds after appearing each form vanished. Gradually the light show died down and an increase in light from the main screen caused everyone to look at it to see what bizarre thing would happen next. A purple woman with 80's hair and dressed in an outfit that looked like it was straight from the set of Star Trek the Original series was most definitely **NOT** what they'd been expecting. For a moment they all thought that it was some kind of recording or something like that but the image on the screen quickly showed signs that it could **see** them.

"Intruders! Identify yourselves!" the pixal woman demanded before yelling, "Jerrica! There are intruders in the mansion!"

While an intelligent sounding machine on its own would have been enough for the Scoobies to break out the exorcism books, especially given their 'adventure' with Moloch, one thing stopped the blonde Slayer in her tracks. She could **hear** the woman as if she was a lot closer than it looked. It wasn't an auditory malady like some might think but rather it was kind of like she had some earphones on and was hearing the woman speak through them as well as the speakers of the machine in front of her. Looking around sharply she tried to find out if there were hidden speakers in the room close by that either she or Willow might have missed. Finding none she tried to figure out where the voice was coming from and when she felt one of the pink star earrings she had taken to wearing everywhere hit her it all clicked into place.

"The earrings!" she gasped as she almost unconsciously reached up with her right hand to grasp one.

"Buffy?" Dawn asked with a little concern at what she had just heard her sister say.

"I can hear Ms. Purple talking through these earrings." She replied taking said earrings off to get a better look at them in case there was some sort of visual cue on them that something was happening.

"Those earrings look like Jem's! Where did you find them?! Why didn't you **tell** me!?" Dawn exclaimed at first with surprise and then with some annoyance at her sister keeping this from her.

"Indeed that is what I would like to know." Ms. Purple asked with a look that was moderately more rational but also angry.

Assuming it was possible for a machine to feel anything.

Still given the results that Warren managed to accomplish with his robots it wasn't too big of stretch.

"Look! How about we all calm down a little and start things off with some intros? Okay?" she asked not wanting things to devolve into a yell fest, "I'll go first since I'm the one with the earrings. My name is Buffy Summers and the annoyed brat over there is my little sister Dawn. Next wearing the eyepatch and painful-to-look-at Hawaiian shirts is Xander Harris and the girl with 'tude next to him is Rona."

"And I'm Willow Rosenberg. I'm kinda the one that fixed you and I gotta say you are one impressive piece of machinery." Willow said looking about ten times worse than she usually did when she picked up the latest 'state-of-the-art' piece of computer tech, "So now that we've all said who we are can you tell us who you are?"

"My name is Synergy." Ms. Purple replied honestly though with some wariness still in her voice, "Where is Jerrica Benton? Or Kimber perhaps? I would like to speak with one of them as soon as possible."

This pretty much confirmed for the oldest living Slayer that this machine, this arty-facial intelligence she thought Willow said people-like machines were called, was indeed connected with Jem and the Holograms. What that connection was still something she was clueless about but it was clear that Synergy considered them important. That made the reply they had to give the mech-lady all the harder to give considering how she'd feel after being given such sad news. Still it wouldn't be right to lie to the lady and so she decided to just come out with some straight honesty.

"I'm afraid that neither of them are around anymore Synergy. Jerrica died in a car crash in France eleven years ago and no one's seen Kimber since then." Buffy explained as gently as she could deciding to treat Ms. Purple as a woman rather than a machine, "From what Ashley told us the rest of the Holograms started breaking apart after Jerrica died and have all pretty much gone their own ways. I'm sorry."

The almost human look of shock, sadness and grief on Synergy's voice was a surprise since none of them really had expected something made in the eighties to be so advanced. It almost became painful to watch the emotions cascading across the purple skinned face on the screen but fortunately that changed. Synergy apparently was ready to proceed straight past the initial shock and grief in order to proceed straight to the next most human reaction to such tragic news.

Denial.

"No! You're lying! They can't all be gone!" Synergy yelled with anger and looked like she might try something violent very soon.

"I'm afraid it is true. Check for yourself if you don't believe us." Willow said joining Buffy in her 'give it to her straight' stance.

"How? I cannot leave this room and can only view things elsewhere secondhand through those earrings." Synergy said with slightly less anger than before but contempt more than ready to take up the slack.

"A lot's changed since you were last working. We have something called the internet now and when I was repairing you I made a few **upgrades** along the way. You should now be able to search the internet for the proof you need." Willow stated as rationally as well as gently as gently as she could.

For a moment it looked like Synergy was going to refuse to do so just to act contrary to the wicca's suggestion. Eventually though the woman on the screen nodded in agreement to which everyone in the room smiled.

"Very well Willow Rosenberg. I will use this 'internet' to verify the truth of your claims." Synergy said in a diplomatic manner, "I will contact you when I have come to a decision."

"Good. See you then okay?" Willow asked rhetorically before turning and walking towards the door.

"Take as much time as you need." Said the blonde Slayer as she followed the redheaded genius out of the room.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Two Hours Later, Kitchen 

"So what do you think she'll do once she finds out?" Buffy asked the collected group of mansion tenants.

"Personally I'm putting my money on blowing a fuse and then crashing." Xander replied half with seriouesness and the other half humorous.

"Xander!" Willow exclaimed angrily while looking like she was five seconds away from giving her best-bud-since-pre-school a serious lecture.

"I'm just saying that she's probably going to go through what most coma patients do when they wake up years later to find everythings changed without her." Xander said quickly explaining his earlier comment in order to avoid the Willow tongue lashing he would have received otherwise, "I know if I woke up ten or twenty years later to find you guys had gone on without me I'd be two steps from freakin' out."

This managed to calm down the wicca and persuade her not to give the 'artificial intelligences are people too' speech that she'd been contemplating just in case anyone else made a thoughtless comment about Synergy. None of the Scoobies present could find fault with Xander's words because in the years since they'd first met they had become as close as a group of friends could get. Not one of them wanted to even contemplate what it'd be like if for some reason they landed in a coma then woke up to find one or both of the others dead. There would be grief, guilt and anger in them for sure when they woke up from the coma. They'd be grief stricken at the loss of such good friends and guilty that they had not been there to prevent it somehow. Then the anger would come at the unjustness of it all and probably more than a little cursing at the stinking PTBs for not stepping in to help. All together it made for a emotion cocktail that concievably could lead to someone doing something drastic if they weren't strong enough to bear it.

"We'll just have to be there to help her through it." Buffy said simply with a set determination in her eyes

"I appreciate the thought Buffy but that will not be necessary." Came the voice of Synergy moments before the computer lady materialized in the form of a realistic looking hologram, "I did as you suggested Willow and sought out information about Jerrica and the others. While I don't want to believe that Jerrica is dead the information I managed to find does appear to be authentic."

"So what will you do now?" Dawn asked with interest since they'd have some big issues if the A.I decided it wanted to leave them or something.

"I do not know. When Jerrica was alive I aided her and the Holograms in their performances as well as with any mishaps that happened on their journeys." Synergy replied with a lost look of contemplation on her face, "Perhaps if you could tell me what it is you all do I might get the inspiration I need to choose my own path."

"Sure! Well I guess it all started eight years ago in a little southern Californian town called Sunnydale…" Buffy said as she began regaling the A.I with tales of the Scooby gang.

Over the next two hours Buffy told a condensed version of the lives she and the rest of the Scooby gang had led up until recently. Every once and awhile one of the others would put in their own opinions of various adventures as well as make sure Buffy left **nothing** out at all. Needless to say there were many an embarassing Buffy moment revealed with the blonde Slayer either countering with an equally embarassing moment in retaliation or just with the threat of later retaliation at a later date. Both Rona and Synergy laughed at some of these exploits since the former was relatively new to the group while the latter obviously was just getting to know everyone for the first time. By the time recents events were laid out for the holographic being the Scoobies could tell that Synergy had come to a decision regarding her future.

"While I will have to do further research before I can believe in the existance of the paranormal and demonic before I can believe in them your tale has intrigued me." Synergy said with geniune sounding interest, "I do not know what help I can be to your fight but I promise to do all I can nevertheless."

"Great! I'm sure you'll be a big help!" Buffy said with joy at the idea of Synergy staying with them and not downloading herself somewhere else or something.

Just as Willow was about to make a comment the phone rang and with a little irritation the reheaded wicca got out of her seat to answer it.

"Hello? Giles! How are things going in Cleveland?" Willow asked with a smile at hearing from her old friend and some times mentor.

However the smile quickly changed to a look of shock before becoming one of hurt and eventually settling on anger.

"How bad is it Giles?" Willow asked looking like someone had just told her that someone had burned down her home and that not everything of value might have been saved, "No problem. We'll get things ready for you and the others right away and everything'll be set for when you guys get here. Bye."

While all of the Scoobies not in possession of the phone knew that it was impossible to have a good idea of what the conversation was about they could discern enough to know that it was **not** of the good. Willow had a look on her face that was usually reserved for the likes of Cordelia at the height of her Queen C days. When added to the fact that apparently Giles and others from the Cleveland HQ of the Council were coming here everyone was eager to find out what had happened. Watching Willow hang up the phone everyone waited with baited breath to find out what was going on.

"So what's the what Will'?" Xander asked no doubt figuring his status as Willow's best bud would shield him from any of her ire.

"Well as you might have heard that was Giles on the phone. Apparently things are worse than he'd heard before leaving!" Willow replied sounding like she was actively trying to stay calm, "According to him Kennedy has been treating the Cleveland branch of the Council like her own personal kingdom and ordering the others around like a bunch of lackeys! Giles confronted her about it but then she threatened to have her family yank the funding completely!"

Shock was the dominant emotion present on most of the Scoobies faces at the moment since they all knew that as a member of the rich Gabor family Kennedy had been a big help financially in setting up the various branches of the new Council. In fact it was safe to say that without the money from that family it would have taken years to bring the organization back up to the level where it could support Slayers worldwide. A lot could happen in that amount of time so if Kennedy carried through on her threat then a lot of young girls would be left high and dry. Oh the various members of the new Council would try to take care of them, Giles had made sure that they actually gave a damn about their charges, but without strong financial backing it would be like Sunnydale all over again. All those Slayers would only have their Watchers and a few local supporters to call on for aide since it would take to long for others to gather the necessary funds to get there at all much less in time to be of any use. All in all they expected that the reason why Willow was so upset was because Giles had told her that they would have to let Kennedy have her way for the time being until the Council had sufficient funds to do without her and her family.

"So Giles basically told her to pack her bags and get out! Well he put it a bit more Britishy than that and was a bit more colourful but that was the jist of it." Willow explained with her control over her anger starting to slip a little, "So not only did the Queen Bitch not cave at that but she also managed to persuade a few of the other newbie Slayers to leave with her!"

"What!?!" everyone exclaimed at that with the exception of Synergy and that was because she was too new to the group to understand the full scope of the situation.

"How could Giles let that happen?" Dawn asked startled that the G-Man wouldn't do everything he could to keep even a couple of Slayers from straying from the path.

"From what he told me over the phone he tried to convince them to stay but all Kennedy needed to do was flash money in ther faces and promise them high ranking positions in order to get them to abandon the Council." Willow said in a way that everyone could tell she was redoubling her efforts to calm down, "Giles expects that the funding from the Gabor family will dry up in a day or two so he's going to move the majority of the new Slayers that stayed loyal here and relocate the more experienced ones to smaller homes."

Everyone knew that by 'smaller' Giles meant less expensive and agreed with his move to keep the costs of running the Council down by squeezing as many Slayers as he could into one place as possible and selling all the unoccupied buildings. That way the money from the sold buildings would take at least some of the financial pressure off of the Council and buy them some time to find some other financial backers that had a few more scruples than the Gabor family. Still things would be tight and the Watchers of the world would be vulnerable as well as their charges making them prime targets for the demon community.

"Guess we better get this place ready because it's going to be a lot more crowded pretty soon." Xander said as he got up from his chair, "I'll go make sure that most of the rooms are cleared out and put the repair stuff in another room."

"I'll go for groceries and make sure that the fridge is stocked when they get here." Dawn said heading for the kitchen counter where all the flyers from the local supermarkets were sitting, "Hopefully there'll be enough good deals on what we need so that it won't cost too much."

"I'll check with some of the contacts we've made in the city to see if there's anyone who might be willing to fund us without asking too many questions or might ask for the wrong kind of favors in return." Willow said heading for the nearby stairs, "There has to be someone willing to fund a home for **special** girls."

"The people from the furniture store should be here to deliver the rest of the beds." Rona said with a look that made it clear that Kennedy was dead next time the African American girl set eyes on her, "Hopefully they'll cut us some slack on the payments otherwise we'll be down literally to bread and butter before too long."

Watching the gang jump into action the blonde Slayer couldn't help but be proud of the way that they hadn't let such discouraging news get them down. To them Kennedy's betrayal was just another hurdle to overcome and not only would they beat this problem but they would thrive despite it. For her though she was still worried about what it could mean in the long term and how she could help fix it. She remembered what it was like to be tight for money after her mother had died and she had to try and raise Dawn on her own money-wise. Contributions from her friends, minimum wage jobs and the occassional loan from the bank were what had kept the two of them afloat but somehow she doubted that it would be that easy this time around.

It would be worse.

"Is the situation really so dire Buffy?" Synergy asked from her metaphorical place at the head of the table.

"Yeah. The First Evil pretty much wiped out the Watcher's Council a year ago and while Giles has managed to get a hold of some of their money most of it was lost." Buffy replied turning to the A.I, "A lot of us considered it to be a big help when Kennedy offered to have her family back the new Council financially. Guess we should have known there'd be strings attached to that kind of help."

"Perhaps. However I believe I may know of a way you might be able to earn the money you need and help your cause at the same time." Synergy said with a look that hinted she had a plan up her holographic sleeve.

As the A.I started to reveal her plan Buffy's spirits began to soar higher and higher until she could contain it no more. Racing up the stairs to the room where the sophisticated machine dwelled she had a feeling in her gut that things were going to get better a lot quicker than the others might think.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Synergy's Room, Evening the Next Day 

"So what's the big surprise Buff'?" Xander asked once the core Scooby members had all entered the room and the door had closed shut.

"Well I got a bit of inspiration yesterday when we found out what The Bitch had done and so I spent all yesterday and most of today coming up with a plan to turn things around." Buffy replied looking for all the world that she was dangling the proverbial carrot in front of them and teasing them with it, "Now its not a guarantee or anything but considering how well it worked for Jerrica Benton and the others I bet it can work for us too."

"What exactly is it you are proposing Buffy?" Giles asked neutrally even though he was internally doubting that anything that could be thought up in the space of twenty-four hours could work as well as the Council would need it to.

"It'd probably be better if I show you rather than just tell you." Buffy replied before reaching up to touch one of her pink star earrings, "Showtime Synergy."

With a shimmer of neon green light a field of energy enveloped the blonde Slayer momentarily blocking her vision but when it cleared she could tell immediately by the look on their faces that her transformation had gone off without a hitch. Like a little girl playing dress up she spun around to give the others a full three hundred and sixty degree view of the new her. She had spent hours working with Synergy to come up with just the right combination of Jem's features and her own to make her plan work. The face and body had been pretty easy to come up with but the mix of 80's fashion with what was considered stylish today had been sheer torture. However if the growing smiles on the faces of Willow and Dawn were any indication she'd aced everything.

"Good lord! Is this some sort of glamour?" Giles asked in fascination has he began to look at her from different angles, "You've never shown promise in magic before Buffy."

"That's because this isn't a glamour Giles! It's all technology thanks to Synergy." Buffy said loving the fact that she was not only managing to get one over on her former Watcher but also showing up his old ways with modern tech, "According to Synergy the Holograms did this all the time when they were in a bind before a big show. Stage outfits not arrive on time? No problem! Just tell Synergy what you want and **BAM** it's on you in seconds!"

"Outrageous! Can I try it too?" Dawn asked as though she had just seen something in a store that she just **had to** have.

"I figured you'd say something like that so yeah!" Buffy replied glad that she'd be able to count on at least one person to support her idea, "Show Dawn what we made for her Synergy."

With a flash of light from one of the many multicolored spotlights that adorned Ms. Purple's body the younger sister of the blonde Slayer changed in appearance as well. Gone was the long-haired blonde with the gymnast figure and in her place was a redhead with long blood red hair dressed in an white feminine tux blazer with purple skirt. Just like the eldest Summers girl had planned she had also combined the features of the Holograms' keyboard master and back up vocalist Kimber with Dawn's narure appearance. It made for a stunning change but it also pretty much made her plan obvious to the others.

"So your big plan is to form a band and raise money that way Buffy?" Xander asked tentatively as though he didn't want to appear to be either in favor of the idea or against it.

"Yeah. I mean Dawn took piano lessons for a long time back in Sunnydale and both me and Willow sounded pretty good when Sweet showed up that time turning Sunnydale into one big musical." She replied setting up the framework for her proposal, "With a little practice and a lot of luck we should be able to get good enough to get ourselves a gig at a local club."

"Then what? Get center stage at Madison Square Garden?" Rona asked with some skepticism about the idea, "'Cause that's the kind of money we're going to be needing. No offense Buffy but I just don't see your 'I wanna be a star' dream getting us anywhere."

"While I admit I am impressed with the amount of thought you put into this plan Buffy I am afraid I must side with Rona on this. While the times may have changed I clearly remember from my younger days that club bands weren't paid very much and certainly not enough to make much of a difference where the Council is concerned." Giles said trying to gently lead his one time Slayer away from her fantasy, "Also you have far too many obligations as the elder Slayer to spend time performing in front of a crowd."

Buffy had known he'd point those details out and already had a counter argument ready to give her the lead in the discussion.

"Actually I never thought this could solve all the Council's money problems but with a little creative thinking I think it could keep our heads above water long enough to find some other backers." She explained sounding like she was already certain that she'd be winning the debate, "As for my duties as the senior Slayer this would actually work out great. After all Giles you've already told us a million times how the demons are keeping an eye out for us mega good guys. With Synergy backing us up and a little work to get some gigs in the towns where we need to go we can get in without any vamp or demon knowing until it's too late."

This definitely put the brakes on whatever follow up he'd been planning on giving and unless she was very much mistaken there was actually a bit of optimistic speculation going on behind those librarian glasses of his. All he'd need would be one more push in the right direction and then it'd be almost impossible for him to stay opposed to her idea.

"Besides Giles even if we practice 'til we collapse I doubt we'll be able to become any better than your average club band so you don't have to worry about the band becoming too high profile." She said allaying any fear that attracting too much attention would compromise the combat effectiveness of the members, "This'll just be a way to earn some money and get around all stealthily at the same time. So what do you say? You on board or what?"

For the next few minutes everyone waited in hushed silence waiting to see which direction the most senior surviving member of the previous Council would go. There was no doubt which way both she and Dawn wanted him to go and judging from the look on Willow's face she wasn't that far behind. Xander looked indecisive since he probably wasn't sure where he fit into the plan but she knew he'd happily join up once she told him he'd be the head roadie for the band. He'd be the one directing the newbie Slayers who'd be assigned to the band as well as making sure everything was ready for the performance. She figured with his history in contruction and some tutoring from Willow in the field of electronic gizmos he'd be able to pull it off easily. Rona still looked skeptical about whether or not the plan would work but the blonde Slayer had a feeling that whichever way Xander went she wouldn't be far behind.

"Well I suppose every young person is entitled to chase at least one of their dreams before settling down. If this idea of yours is your dream and it can benefit the Council in some way then I will support it one hundred percent!" Giles said with a supportive smile followed soon by a hug.

The room erupted into cheers and whoops of joy marking the beginning of something truly great.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The Bottom Line, New York City, Three Months Later, The Dressing Room 

"Are you guys nervous? I'm nervous! Aren't you guys nervous?!" Willow asked as she continued to pace back and forth at a speed usually reserved for those on a caffiene high.

"Chill **Shala**!" Buffy said using the wicca's stage name to remind her friend of the role she was meant to play, "We've been practicing for three months straight and we've been coached by someone who was there every step of the way on the Holograms' rise to the top. We're ready for this!"

"Jenna's right girlfriend! Besides once you get out there picture performing in front of the others back at the mansion." Dawn said lending her support to the combination of Shana Elmsford and Willow Rosenberg, "Besides you heard the manager of this place when he auditioned earlier in the week. He **loved** us! We're going to be a hit!"

"Doesn't mean it's going to go so well in front of a live crowd **Sinder**." Rona pointed out as she made sure her outfit fit right, "'Sides which this is our first big break since this whole thing started. Bottom Line's a top notch club in New York and if we blow it here we can forget about performing in this city anytime soon."

"Don't worry **Ana** 'cause you guys are going to be great out there." Declared Xander as he entered the room in his self-made roadie outfit with the band name on the front of his shirt.

"I guess if you say so then we at least got a chance." Rona said not completely surrendering her position but encouraged by the man whom she was starting to make moves on.

"Trust me! You've got more than a chance." Xander said before addressing the band as a whole, "Everything's on stage and set up just like you wanted Jenna and Bob says you guys are on in three so you better get on stage and ready."

"Right. Let's go girls!" she said leading the way out of the dressing room and towards the main stage.

With each step she took though the 'butterfly stomach' feeling that everyone came down with before the first big performance stirred within her stomach. Were they really going to pull this off? Sure they'd been practicing non-stop since she told everyone her big idea but that didn't mean necessarily that they'd be able to perform tonight. After all she knew that not many bands even made it on stage at a club like this much less made it big like Jem and the Holograms had done from the beginning of their careers. Most people with the dream of making it in the music business were eventually forced to give up on their dreams for something a little more attainable. She knew she had just meant this to be a cover for the Council and a source of revenue but she'd be lying if she said that there wasn't a small part of her that wanted to go all the way. Ever since she had first seen Jem and her band perform there had been a part of her that wished it was her on stage in front of all those people.

_Well tonight I'm going to get my wish so here's hoping I don't wind up tossing my cookies on stage!_ She thought to herself as she walked up the steps and onto the stage.

Stepping up to the lead mike she listened to the people on the other side of the curtain and for a moment she was overcome with the urge to make a break for it. Doubt and fear clawed at her insides moreso than any demon could hope to manage. However with a deep breath and the focus needed to block out everything but the stage and her friends on it. There was no club, there were no strangers watching her, there was nothing but her and the music she was about to let out with every fiber of her being. Tonight dreams became reality and she wasn't about to let anything as flimsy as cold feet get in her way.

"Ladies and gentleman we have a special treat for you tonight! Here for you this evening we have an undiscovered band that is like nothing you've seen in years!" came Bob's voice from the club speakers, "Performing for you here tonight, for the first time anywhere in New York City, I give you J.A.T.H 2!!"

With those words the curtains were swept back by the stage hands off stage and the light fixtures clicked on with both being operated under the direction of Xander. Holding her empty hand off to the side she made the signs to the others and with the classic '1…2…1-2-3-4' they all began the premiere song that would make the first and most important impression the citizens of New York would have of the band.

_There's music in the air  
News is in the makin'  
Music in the air  
Something big is breakin'_

They'd all had a big debate two weeks before on what songs they'd make a part of their set of performance songs and while there had been a few good suggestions none of them felt quite right.

_Wow look around at the sight and sound   
Did we take you by surprise  
Bet you can't believe your eyes oh whoa_

She'd been the one to use some of the old classics written by Jem and Holograms but both Willow and Xander had pointed out that 80's music would only be popular in retro and theme clubs.

_Well, this is only the beginning  
Only the Beginning_

It took her less than a minute to suggest that the song's lyrics could still work if they just updated the music and tempo to match the times. After all plenty of big name bands took songs from a decade or two past and put a brand new spin on them. Hell! Some bands took music straight from the sixties and made them appeal to contemporary audiences!

_Now, now's the time when our stars don't climb  
Watch us try for the prize  
We're already on the rise  
Oh_

It was that 'modernization' that had kept most of them up in the days leading up until their audition with Bob but if his reaction had been any indication it had been more than worth it.

_Well, this is only the beginning  
Only the Beginning  
Only the Beginning  
Only the Beginning  
Only the Beginning_

Tapping her foot to keep the tempo of the updated version of the classic Jem and the Hologram song she could feel all the doubt fade away with the music. Losing herself in the music she barely noticed the crowd in front of the stage getting into the swing of the music on the dance floor. Right at that moment there was only her and the music with nothing else even entering her mind.

_Wow, look around at the sight and the sound  
Did it take you by surprise?  
That you can't believe your eyes  
Whoa_

It was like she was in a dream where nothing could go wrong and everything turned out to be better than any expectations she had set for herself. With every word she sang she shared a little bit of herself with the crowd in front of herself letting her soul seep into the word coming from her mouth.

_Well, this is only the beginning  
Only the Beginning_

Moving with the modest dance moves that Dawn and Rona had come up with in their spare time she kept the rhythem of the music at the forefront of her mind. Every step she took and every movement she made was perfectly in time with the beat of the music making it look easy to those watching.

_Now, now's the time when our stars don't climb  
Watch us try for the prize  
We're already on the rise  
Oh_

Out of the corner of her eye when she could spare a moment between lyrics she could see that Dawn, Willow and even Rona were getting into the swing of things. Dawn and Willow were pretty open about how much fun they were having but the blonde Slayer could tell from the way that Rona was moving she was having just as much fun.

_Well, this is only the beginning  
Only the Beginning  
Only the Beginning  
Only the Beginning  
Only the Beginning_

Only the Beginning!

With one final emotional surge of singing the song came to an end and no one could see the reactions of the people in the audience as anything but overwhelming. There was not a single person in the crowd that wasn't on their feet somewhere clapping, cheering, and yelling for more of the same. Basking in this atmosphere she couldn't help but ride the high it was giving her that made all the work that went into it worth it. For the first time in a long time her hard work felt like it had meant something to someone other than she and her friends. No longer was she this unknown warrior fighting an unknown battle doomed to die without any sort of recognition from the people she was protecting.

It felt simply OUTRAGEOUS!!

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

At the Bar Farthest From the Stage, Same Time 

_Looks like history just might be repeating itself!_ Thought the orange haired woman as she got up from the bar stool she'd been watching the band from, _I gotta tell Lindsey about this!_

Discreetly making her way closer to the door in order to get a better connection for her cell phone she quickly hit the speed dial and watched as a number she'd had for the past seventeen years was rung up. She and Lindsey had been friends for what seemed like forever with one always benefiting from the work that the other did. If she was doing good work her friend could be certain it would benefit her ratings in some way and likewise she'd benefit each time one of the videos she'd directed was featured on the show her friend hosted. Together they had become known as the superstar sisters of the music business and Lindsey was definitely better than her own sister. Sure Constance had matured a bit from her teenage 'destroy the career of my sister' phase but all that really meant was that the quality of the sabotage had gone up. She just hoped that Clash waited a bit before she tried to make a mess of J.A.T.H 2's career because she really thought these girls might go all the way just like the band that had obviously inspired them had.

"Hi Video! Been awhile since I've heard from you." Lin-Z, the premiere music v-jay in the business, said obviously having looked at her caller I.D before answering, "I assume this is not a social call?"

"It's a little bit of business and a little bit of girl talk between friends." Video replied with a smile as she tried to predict her friend's reaction to her news, "I'm down at the 'Bottom Line' scouting out talent and you'll never believe the act that's on stage now."

From there Vivian 'Video' Montgomery told Lindsey 'Lin-Z' Pierce of the band going into their second song of their set, who they reminded the music video director of, and just how much potential she thought was rocking on that stage at the moment. It was at that moment that the gears of Fate began to turn and any hope that Buffy and the others had for keeping a low profile became more of a dream than being a superstar was to most teenagers. It was the rebirth of a music industry icon and only time would tell if they would follow the path set out by their predecessors or soar to even greater heights.


	16. Dueling for Dummies Episode Two: Attack

BtVS/Yu-Gi-Oh

"Dueling for Dummies Episode Two: Attack of the Scoobies"

Dislcaimer : I do not own any of the copyrighted characters featured in this fanfic. I am making no money off of this fanfic at all. I am doing this merely for the enjoyment of the readers and myself.

Note: Well your demands for at least one complete duel have reached my ears faithful readers and so I have decided at the very least to write up the Xander Vs Rafael duel. Keep in mind that should this drabble/short idea graduate to become a complete fanfic then there may be some changes in how things happened at this point in the story but I promise that those changes will only be for the better.

So without further delay IT'S TIME TO DUEL!!!

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Sunnydale, California, United States of America**_

_**Outside of "The Bronze", 4:30p.m**_

_**(An Hour and Half Before Xander's Duel and Right at the Start of the Exchange Student Costume Dance)**_

The sight of no less than two vans, both with what looked like satellite dishes on the top, and three eighteen wheelers pull up in front of the Bronze was definitely an eye opener to most but none more than Willow Rosenberg. She had just arrived at the Bronze in her Eskimo costume when she'd heard a loud rumbling and the sounds of many powerful engines. While that was not entirely unusual it was when she could hear them getting closer and closer to the Bronze that she began to suspect something big was going on. She could see now that she wasn't all that far from the truth and like many of the students approaching the Bronze she began to wonder what was going on. She watched as a large number of men got out of each vehicle and began to move things into the Bronze or set up what looked like vendors stands in the Bronze parking lot. Was this some kind of added attraction to the whole exchange student dance? Like maybe they were going to sell authentic clothes and stuff from various parts of the world?

_Somehow I don't think so given that there are cartoon monsters on some of those shirts._ She thought watching some guys from the eighteen-wheelers begin to lay out T-shirts on some of the vending tables.

"Hey Willow! What's with the mega sized set up?" asked Buffy as she blonde Slayer came up from behind the redhead with Ampata taking up the rear.

"I don't know. I got here just a little while ago and then these trucks stopped in front of the Bronze and began to set up." Willow replied as she half turned to greet her friend and her friend's exchange student, "I don't think they're here as part of the exchange student program though."

"Well let's go ask them what they're doing." Buffy stated taking the frontal approach as always.

As a group they walked up to the guy in an expensive looking suit that looked like he was the one in charge of the unexpected operation. On the surface he looked pretty much like your typical right hand guy complete with intimidating look and the belief that his job was the most important thing in his life. With brown hair that looked like he bought hair gel from the same place as Angel, shades that looked like they belonged to a secret agent and a clipboard in hand with a list of things to do he was definitely the person they wanted to talk to. Walking up carefully they all listened carefully just in case the guy let anything important slip without knowing they were there to hear it.

"Hurry it up you slackers!! Get those holo-projectors set up inside on the double!" Mr. Supervisor ordered pointing at the entrance to the Bronze, "The duel is scheduled to begin in less than two hours and Mr. Kaiba wants everything ready to go ten minutes beforehand!"

"Excuse me? What's going on here?" Buffy asked half with politeness and half with her usual bluntness, "Somehow I doubt you and your posse here are a part of the student exchange program."

For a moment the guy didn't say a word but when he looked down at his clipboard and saw something on it his expression changed. Without saying anything he reached into his coat pocket and took out three envelopes and handed one to Buffy and two to her.

"Ms. Summers, Ms. Rosenberg, I was instructed to give you these letters by my employer Mr. Kaiba the second I met you. Inside you should find the answers to your questions." Mr. Supervisor replied in a professional yet emotionless manner, "Now if you'll excuse me I have a schedule to keep."

Then without further explanations or even a polite goodbye the suited goon walked away to light a fire under his workforce's butts to set up whatever it was they were setting up quicker. Judging from the look on the blonde Slayer's face it looked like she was almost annoyed enough at the guy to go after him and give the creep a piece of her mind. The only thing that was keeping her from doing so was the envelope that he had given her and the promise that it would explain everything. A good thing in Willows mind since she doubted that her friend would be able to take much more of the jerk's impolite way of dealing with people. Moving closer to Buffy she pointed at the envelope in the Summers girl's hand indicating that she should open it so that they could find out what was going on. Opening up the envelope she took out the piece of paper inside and unfolded it to reveal a letter written in impressive looking business script.

_Ms. Summers_

_This is to inform you that at six this evening, your time of course, your friend Alexander LaVelle Harris will be taking part in an exhibition tournament of Duel Monsters. It will be a team duel in which one member of each team will duel another until only one remains. That final survivor will then team up with the manager of their respective team to compete in one final tag team duel that will determine the overall winner. _

_While normally your knowing about this would mean nothing to me my younger brother Mokuba insisted that if I was going to televise the tournament that I had to make sure you could watch it. Personally I don't think your friend will make it past the first round even with the four special cards he was allowed to create for the event. Then again he might last at least to the second round if he's paid attention to anything I taught him during his lessons._

_As for the vendors that are no doubt setting up around you as you read this letter they are there so I at least get to make some sort of profit to offset the expenses of allowing you to watch this tournament. Who knows? Maybe if my people turn enough of a profit I'll consider expanding Kaiba Corps territory to the United States._

_Enjoy the show!_

_Seto Kaiba_

President and C.E.O of Kaiba Corps 

"Why **THAT** JERK!!!" Buffy exclaimed looking madder than if a vamp had just told her that her ass was big, "What does yours say Willow?"

Opening up the envelope with her name on it she found that it said pretty much the same thing as Buffy's except for one surprising detail.

"Pretty much the same thing except… well… he's offering me a job with his R&D division once I graduate from University." She replied knowing that this wouldn't go over well with her best female friend.

"WHAT!?" Buffy exclaimed looking mad enough that she just might be willing to pour her entire life savings into a plane ticket to where ever this Seto Kaiba was just to kick his ass.

"There's also a letter here for Giles but seeing as how yours and mine were pretty much the same I don't really think it's worth opening." She said not wanting to add even more fuel to the fire that was Buffy's pride.

"What is this Duel Monster's tournament? I have not heard of it before." Asked Ampata who up until she spoke had been forgotten in all the commotion surrounding the letters that had been read.

"I don't know exactly. Xander only said it was some kind of card game that was a big deal over in Japan in his last letter." She responded honestly before looking towards the entrance to the Bronze, "But if I can use one of the Bronze's public computers I can probably find out more."

"Then let's get going. I want to see a picture of this jerk that thinks he can bad mouth Xander **AND** treat us like gum you scrape off the bottom of your shoe!" Buffy said as she started to stomp her way towards the entrance of the Bronze.

_Better call Giles too since it looks like we won't be able to deal with that cursed Incan Mummy anytime soon._ Willow thought as she and Ampata went after the miffed blonde Slayer.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**An Hour and a Half Later, Inside the Bronze, **_

Halfway Between the Public Computers and the Recently set up Holo-projectors 

_Really! Does Buffy have no sense of duty?!_ Rupert Giles thought as he tried to make his way through the throng of teenagers that were gathering closely around the perimeter of the guardrail set up around some sort of mechanical contraptions.

It had been just under an hour ago that he had received a call from Willow all but insisting that he come to the Bronze immediately. He tried to tell her that he needed to finish his work on the seal that had been broken but she had told him that that could wait. Such a statement he'd come to expect from Buffy given her insistence on having a normal life alongside her duties as the Slayer but he had believed the redhead as being more responsible. He argued with her for a time over the much greater importance of sealing a life-force devouring Incan mummy back into her stone prison than some silly event being held at the Bronze. However she had insisted that it was important and that it involved Xander who had been oddly missing the last couple of days. He recalled Willow mentioning something about the boy being shipped off somewhere as part of the student exchange program but hadn't really paid it much thought. Still he had decided that if whatever was going on here was so important that it caused the intelligent young woman to prioritize it over the latest threat spawned by the Hellmouth he would at least come take a look himself.

He was beginning to regret his decision already if for no other reason than it was proving to be quite the bother trying to navigate the throng of youth to where Willow said she and Buffy would be. After several close calls and a few instances in which he had to hop in a most undignified manner to see over the head of someone in front of him he eventually managed to locate Willow. She was sitting in front of a computer and was busily working away at it apparently trying to fulfill the requests of a few of the teenagers grouped around her and Buffy. He was too far away to see what was on the screen but whatever it was that Willow had brought up was rather colorful and unusual. With a flicker of curiosity fading into existence within his own mind he decided to give the most intelligent of his charges a bit more leeway. Perhaps he might even consider permitting a slight delay in dealing with the cursed mummy so long as this 'event' did not endure for too long.

"Giles! Glad you could make it." Buffy said once she spotted him exiting the crowd of people into the little area of vacancy around the front of the computer.

"Yes, well, Willow was quite insistent on the phone." Giles replied trying to impress upon his Slayer the great reluctance he had in coming here rather than working on the current supernatural threat, "Now what is so important that you felt our current… dilemma could wait."

"Well you know how I told you a few days ago that Xander's dad had signed him up for the student exchange program?" Willow asked only sparing a moment to look away from the computer in front of her.

"Yes I seem to recall you mentioning that. He was sent to someplace in Japan I believe you said." He replied hoping that his high I.Q. charge wouldn't draw this out too much.

"Well it turns out that the person he wound up staying with was Seto Kaiba, head of Kaiba Corperation, who is one of the top duelists in the entire Duel Monsters League." Willow said in a manner usually reserved for reporters, "In about five minutes Xander's going to be taking part in a televised Duel Monsters tournament that's going to be shown worldwide!"

"While I have a feeling I will regret asking this: What is Duel Monsters?" Giles asked hoping that the answer would actually enlighten him rather than make him question the level of responsibility present in his two present charges.

"Well it's basically a card game but much more complex that you might think looking at it for the first time. It's been a big thing in Japan for years but has really taken off in Europe and South America since Kaiba Corps started promoting it alongside Industrial Illusions." Willow replied turning to him after apparently having some time to spare from her work on the computer, "Mostly that's because of the holographic technology that Kaiba Corps developed for the game. That's what those guys just finished setting up over there a few minutes ago."

_I hate it when I am right!_ He thought before saying, "While I am sure that watching Xander compete on international television would be amusing do you not think that our present… unusual concern takes precedence?"

"C'mon Giles! I know there's this big generation gap between us but this is a big thing for me!" Willow pleaded in a manner similar to Buffy begging off research duty, "Look I'll make you a deal. We watch one duel and if at the end you still aren't interested in sticking around for the rest of the tournament we'll go solve our… special problem."

"Very well. I will hold you to those terms once this first match is over with I hope you know." He said making it clear that no amount of begging or pleading would save her from dealing with the cursed Incan mummy.

With that he began the painful process of trying to gain some basic understanding of the rules of the game he was about to witness as well as how it was played.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Kaiba Land, Main Duelling Arena, **_

One Second After the Start of the Duel of Xander versus Rafael 

Xander – LP 4000

Rafael – LP 4000

"As determined in a coin toss before the duel the member of Team Kaiba will start the match off," declared the announcer before retreating to a safe distance from the dueling platform.

_Here goes nothing! _Xander thought as he drew his first five cards from his dueling deck.

After sliding five cards out from his deck he spread them out like normal playing cards in his left hand and took a look to see what he had to work with. One of his specially made cards, a magic card, two trap cards and Breaker the Magical Warrior ATK 1600/Defense 1000 were the cards that he drew. Then he drew one more card to finish draw phase of the game and he was done. All in all not a bad draw if his duels with Seto were anything to go by and hopefully helpful against the more experienced duelist Rafael. However, choosing the right combination for this first move would be crucial and he had to admit he was unsure if he was good enough to do this and not make a fool of himself. As the seconds ticked by he knew he had to make a move or look like a coward in front of everyone, so he decided to keep things simple.

"First I play **Breaker the Magical Warrior** in attack mode!" he declared as he placed the monster card in the correct slot on his duel disk.

With a shimmer of holographic special effects his monster took form on the field and despite his sessions with both Seto and Mokuba, he was still amazed at the realism of the projection in front of him. He knew that there really wasn't anything in front of him except maybe a convergence of light, but to his eyes it looked like there really was a sword-wielding warrior in front of him. Clad in red and gold armor with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other was his first monster of the game, looking as real as Xander himself. Unfortunately, it also looked like the 'behave like your user' feature that Seto had incorporated into his first duel disk model was working perfectly since Breaker was looking less than confident at the moment.

_Stop thinking about it! Just play the game! Just like Mai said!_ He thought before taking two more cards from his hand and saying, "Then I place one card face down and end my turn."

He knew that it probably would have been smarter to play defensive this first turn to save life-points but he wanted to get a better feel for Rafael's deck, the brief retelling of the man's duel with Yugi not being particularly helpful, mostly because both duels were obviously touchy subjects with the King of Games and it wasn't worth the headache of trying to force the guy into spilling details. Once he got a better idea of what to expect with the man he could begin forming a plan for beating him but for now he would need bide his time until he knew more.

"Not a bad monster kid." Rafael commented as he drew a card from his deck. "But you really should have defended yourself if you want to last and that monster is useless for attacking on the first turn. A rookie mistake. I play the magic card **Guardian Treasure!** It allows me to draw two new cards so long as I discard my entire hand and as long as it remains on the field I can continue to draw two cards every turn from here on out!"

With those words the Xan-man watched as the professional duelist deposited his entire hand into the slot set aside for his Graveyard. Getting a sinking feeling about what this meant he hoped that this move actually blew up in the guy's face rather than give him a serious advantage. Seeing the blonde muscle guy draw two fresh cards from his deck he waited to see if there'd be any reaction on the blonde's face to indicate what had been drawn.

"I place one monster on the field face down in defense mode and then place another card face down before ending my turn." Rafael declared as his two cards appeared on his side of the dueling platform in their stated positions, "Well there you go kid. I just played everything in my hand and that means I can't do anything else except wait for my next turn. SO what've you got to say to that?"

Xander drew a card and added it to his hand before responding "I say that you should have followed my lead and gone on the offensive first! Breaker, attack his face down monster, swift sword **smash!**" he ordered trying to sound a lot more confident than he felt, not difficult since he was feeling about as confident as a school kid facing a pro-wrestler.

With speed to rival a Slayer his monster charged Rafael's face down monster card and with a powerful overhead slash struck downwards at the card. However, just as Breaker's weapon was about to make contact the face down card emitted a bright shining light that faded to reveal a blue skinned monster with horns and wild dark red hair. Not only did it not shatter like all the monsters he defeated while practicing with Mokuba but it actually had caught Breaker's sword between its hands. He could see his monster's arms shaking as it tried to complete the command it had been given but the blade did not move even an inch.

"Sorry kid but it looks like your Magical Warrior doesn't have what it takes to destroy my Backup Guardna. Also since your monster is six hundred attack points weaker than mine you take that much damage to your life points." Rafael said casually, apparently not impressed with the Harris kid's first move.

Little did the guy know that Xander had a few tricks up his sleeve to help him turn things around.

"Ya know you got a point there. **Normally** I would be taking six hundred points of damage but you forget my Breaker's special effect. When he is summoned he gets a Magic Counter which boosts his Attack by three hundred points." Xander said unable to keep himself from smiling in anticipation at what was going to happen.

"It's still not enough to destroy my Backup Guardna! All you've done is decrease the amount of life points you'll lose." Rafael stated as though talking to a particularly dense child.

Xander's grin widened as he reached for his face down card.

"That's what you think! I activate my face down Trap card, Blast with Chain!"

With those words the first of the two cards he'd placed face down on his side of the field flipped up to reveal a trap equip card called Blast with Chain. With a picture of three sticks of dynamite wrapped around a fireworks rocket and connected to a long metal chain it looking cool and was pretty useful, especially in this sort of situation.

"Thanks to this special Trap card equipped to my Magical Warrior, Breaker receives an additional five hundred attack points bring my monster up to twenty-four hundred." Xander explained watching as a digital box popped up on the jumbo-tron overhead showing the increase in power.

With this sudden attack boost Breaker the Magical Warrior became twenty-four hundred attack points strong and finished his attack on Backup Guardna destroying it completely.

Xander LP – 4000

Rafael LP – 4000

"Looks like first blood goes to me after all biker boy." He said with confidence clearly in his voice. He might not have damaged Rafael's Life Points since Guardna was in defence mode, but the first exchange had still come out in his favor, boosting his confidence substantially.

"Don't get too full of yourself kid. You go lucky that's all." Rafael said sternly wanting to make it clear that it was far too early to be planning a victory dance, "I thought that since you were the rookie of Kaiba's team that you'd be easy pickings. Looks like you have **some** talent after all. From here on out, I get serious! I activate my facedown Magic card, Self Sacrifice!" Rafael said defiantly after triggering the command that would reveal his sole remaining face down card, "By sacrificing one thousand of my life points I can bring any monster I want back from the graveyard and I choose the very monster you just destroyed!"

Xander LP – 4000

Rafael LP – 3000

_You mean he wasn't taking this seriously **BEFORE!?** _Xander thought with some alarm as he wondered just how bad things were going to get now that his opponent had decided to take the kid gloves off.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kaiba Land, Main Duelling Arena, The Stands, Same Time 

"Xander's doing pretty good so far." Téa comments looking up at the big screen TV positioned above the main duelling platform before looking back to the platform itself.

"Definitely. Still he'd better not underestimate Rafael too much." Yugi Muto said with some concern in his voice, "While he might not be under the influence of the Seal of Orichalcos anymore I hear he's still a pretty ruthless duelist."

"Don't worry Yugi! I took every free minute I had to show Xander how to duel right." Joey Wheeler said reassuring his friend while grinning with pride, "Between my lessons and the skill he's got Rafael is goin' down!"

"Got that right! With my brother teaching there's no way Xander can lose!" Serenity Wheeler said with excitement and confidence, "I watched Joey and Xander duel yesterday and he was totally better than he was in their first match."

"Well that's not saying much considering that Rafael once dueled Yugi and won." Tristan said offhand pointing out the flaw in logic, "Joey might be pretty good but he's never been able to beat Yugi in a duel, so even if Xander's picked up a few things from your brother it doesn't necessarily mean he'll win."

It took a moment of his brain actually catching up with his mouth and a worried look on Serenity's face to let young Mr. Taylor know he'd made a mistake. It was a fact that the youngest Wheeler sibling had shown up in Domino City about the same time as Xander. During the times the American had spent hanging with the gang the two of them had gotten along really well. A little too well if you asked Tristan, Joey or Duke Devlin what their opinions were on the situation. From Téa's perspective she could easily see the signs of Serenity's first real schoolgirl crush beginning to form and knew that it would be hopeless to try and put a stop to it. The first crushes were always the strongest and even though the youngest Wheeler likely knew that Xander would be going back to America at the end of the exchange program, it wouldn't stop the cute kid from enjoying it. To that end she decided to save Tristan-baka from himself before he dug himself any deeper.

"Maybe but Xander's got surprise on his side. This is his first official duel ever so Rafael doesn't know what's in his deck at all." She pointed out trying to make the American's chances of winning look better, "Plus he's also been getting lessons from Seto Kaiba and Mokuba so he's pretty much been taught by the best. Well next to Yugi of course."

This had the desired effect and instantly cheered up the worried Serenity who immediately looked back to the dueling platform since it seemed like things would be getting interesting soon.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Dueling Platform, One Second Later 

"Since we're getting serious, I'll start things off this round! Looks like you and everyone else here are going to see one of my one of kind cards earlier than I expected Rafael." He said trying to sound like an annoyed nobleman that had been bothered by a servant, "I play the Scarlet Wicca in defense mode ATK 300/Defense 1500."

With a shower of sparkles a figure appeared on his side of the field crouched down in a defensive stance, one that was even more breathtaking than his original design for the guys at Kaiba Corps. Clad in clothes that could best be described as a combination of Amazon armor from Xena: Warrior Princess and something you might find in that Dungeons and Dragons game, was the first of four cards he had created. With a staff that looked like it had been made from a single giant ruby held at the ready in front of her, the Scarlet Wicca was definitely an impressive sight. He had used Willow's basic appearance as a base and then added a few things here and there to make it look more impressive when compared to other duel monster cards. Physically, it was Willow about ten to fifteen years down the road with long red hair, braided up intricately with two stray locks framing her face. All in all a card that was both beautiful and fierce which most would assume misleading based on its attack points.

"That is one of the cards you made for this tournament?" Rafael asked almost in disbelief at the weakness of the Scarlett Wicca, "Looks like your card designing skills are even worse than your dueling skills kid!"

"We'll see." He stated smugly with a smile that he usually reserved when he was being annoyingly polite to Snyder, "I set one card and end my turn."

"Hope you didn't get too attached to your card there 'cause it's not going to be sticking around very long." Rafael advised before drawing two cards from his deck.

_As ready as I ever am biker boy! _Xander thought silently to himself as he waited to see just what an all out move from his opponent was like.

"First I play the equip card **Gravity Axe **and equip it to Backup Guardna, which allows me to summon one of the strongest monsters in my deck!" Rafael declared as a card appeared on his side of field with a picture of a fancy double-headed axe on it, "Guardian Grarl!"

With that a muscled dinosaur man appeared on the field that looked like it ate Slayers for breakfast and had the twenty-five hundred attacks points to prove it. Now **this** monster he did know about from his talks with Yugi and the others so he knew with great worry what was coming up next.

"With twenty-five hundred attack points he'd be more than enough to crush your Magical Warrior but first I think I'll use Backup Guardna's effect to equip my Guardian Grarl with Gravity Axe, thus increasing his attack points to an impressive three thousand! Now, Guardian Grarl, destroy the Scarlet Wicca with decisive **chop**!"

With a fierce groar Grarl leapt across the battlefield and attempted to make Wicca half the card she used to be.

It looked like the Scarlet Wicca's big debut would be a flop but when the Xan-man had designed her card he had done so with the assumption that his opponent would be underestimate such a weak monster. Waiting for the right moment for maximum dramatic effect he watched Grarl get closer and closer until it was a second away from destroying his monster.

"I activate the first of the Scarlet Wicca's special abilities: Force Seal!" he cried and watched with satisfaction as the special effect of his monster went into action.

With a speed usually reserved for Supergirl the Scarlet Wicca removed one of her hands from her ruby staff and placed it in front of her with the open handed palm facing the oncoming Grarl. Then what looked like three pizza slice shaped pieces of a magical circle appeared out of nowhere to come together about an inch out from the palm to become one with a pulse of crimson energy. Less than a second later the purpose of the now complete crimson mystic circle became apparent when Guardian Grarl's axe collided with it and did not go so much as an inch further. With a second pulse of energy the attacking monster was forced back to Rafael's side of the field leaving many wanting an explanation of how a weaker monster repelled an attack from a much stronger one, when it wasn't even the original target for the attack.

"Force Seal is one of two abilities that the Scarlet Wicca has at her disposal. With it she can instantly put up a barrier that can absorb the attack of any opposing monster and seal it away keeping her in one piece and my life points safe." He explained keeping the fact that he could only use it once per turn to himself since he didn't want his opponent getting any ideas about using Backup Guardna.

Unfortunately his plan failed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sunnydale, California, The Bronze, 6:30p.m 

"Take that Leatherboy!" Willow exclaimed after watching the duel monster that Xander had obviously modeled after her stop the attacking dino-man in its tracks.

"Easy Willow! Calm Down." Buffy said trying to keep her friend from jumping up and down like a rabbit after thirty cups of coffee.

Still she had to admit herself that this Duel Monsters stuff was pretty exciting to watch and a lot better than she had expected. Despite the enthusiastic explanation of how the game worked by Willow hadn't really shaked the image she had in her mind of a bunch of geeks sitting around an ordinary table but after the first few minutes of Xander's duel she was beginning to like it. It was kind of like a videogame but more real than anything she'd seen before and definitely more high tech. She had almost thought that something Hellmouthy was going on when the holo-thingies Willow had pointed out to Giles had been turned on but after the fifth time by the redheaded genius she finally believed the young woman when she said it was technologic rather than demonic. From there she had watched as the intro to the tournament was displayed in full 3D and she got her first look at the guy named Seto Kaiba who had sent those condescending letters to her and Willow.

_Somehow arrogant jackass doesn't quite cover him! _She thought angrily before her enjoyment of the duel being projected in front of her swept such feelings away for good.

Sure he looked like one of those rich fairytale princes but the look in his eyes and the perpetual 'lord of all he surveys' look on his face pretty much made it impossible to think of him as anything other than a jerk. From there came the quick rundown of the members of both Team Ishida and team Kaiba followed by a summary of the rules and what the big prize was for the winner. The picture they had taken of Xander had obviously been done without the teen's knowledge because nowhere was the nervous look that she knew her best male friend usually had when finding out he was the center of attention. Xander actually looked pretty cool in the pic, like a professional, like he belonged up there with the other big name duelists that Willow had pointed out. It wasn't the thought that her friend couldn't be a top-notch duelist some day, but according to Willow he'd only been in Japan since about a week before the trip to the museum. No way could Xander learn how to duel like a pro in so short a period of time.

_Still he's managing to keep things pretty much neck in neck with this Rafael guy so that's pretty good._ She thought as she watched an instant replay of Xander's last move play on the holo-thingies.

Still she didn't think his chances of making it all the way to the last match were very good and figured that he'd probably beat this guy and maybe one more before someone eliminated him. Xander might be her friend but he was also a newbie duelist and just like newbie vamps she figured he'd only last longer if his opponents were very, **very** careless. It would definitely be a memorable event in his life, something to tell the kids one day, but he'd definitely omit a few things to make him seem more heroic and less goofy than he really was during the whole thing.

_Of course that will make it all the more fun teasing him with spilling the beans to the kids._ She thought as her mind imagined how panicky he'd become and how far he'd go to to keep her quiet.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kaiba Land, Main Duelling Arena, Thirty Seconds After the Last Play 

"I use the effect of Gravity Axe to change the position of one monster on your side of the field. Since I have to change one of my own monsters as well, Guardian Grarl goes to defense mode and the Scarlet Wicca switches to attack mode." Rafael declared not wanting to give up on his Grarl just yet

A dark glow surrounded the Axe before Grarl slammed his weapon into the ground. A ripple seemed to spread out from the point of impact, then moments later the monster itself was forced to the ground even as the Scarlet Wicca was forced into attack mode.

"Guardna! Destroy that annoying Wicca!"

With a sound like shattering glass, the Scarlet Wicca was destroyed by a tremendous punch from Backup Guardna.

Xander LP – 2100

Rafael LP – 3000

"Hahahahaha! Just like I figured. I knew there had to be some kind of weakness in the Scarlet Wicca, some weakness to exploit, and it looks like I just found it." Rafael said with satisfaction at getting rid of a troublesome card, "Force Seal can only be used once per turn. Isn't that right?"

_Damn, I didn't think it was that obvious! He's figured it out! **MAN** this guy's good! _Xander thought forlornly.

"I end my turn." Rafael said looking pretty satisfied with himself.

Xander drew his next card slowly, hoping it would be something he could use to even the playing field.

D.D Warrior Lady ATK 1500/Defense 1600 was the card drawn and while powerful wasn't going to be nearly enough to beat Rafael's Guardian Grarl. Even if he used his reinforcements trap card at the right moment and increased her attack points by five hundred she still wouldn't be strong enough to bring down Grarl.

_D.D. Warrior Lady. Damn, I can't use this yet, but maybe... _he thought as he considered his options.

A stroke of inspiration struck as he looked at the field, remembering one of the first lessons Yugi's grandpa had drilled into his skull. Sometimes the distance to your goal is too large to cross in one step. So you need to take more than one. That meant he had only one option if he wanted to last until next turn when he might get something a little better.

"I activate Breaker the Magical Warrior's special effect!" he declared with confidence.

Rafael looked surprised.

"What effect? You already used its attack increase." Biker boy asked sounding puzzled.

"By removing Breaker's magic counter I can destroy one Magic or Trap card on the field." He replied explaining the reason for his confidence.

Rafael's surprise turned into a sneer, "Even if you destroy Gravity Axe you won't be able to damage my lifepoints. You're wasting your time."

Xander's grin just got wider. "I'm not going to destroy Gravity Axe. Breaker! Destroy Blast with Chain!"

With that Breaker raised its sword and struck down at the base of the large fireworks tube at its feet, severing the chain and sending sparks flying. A sudden whoosh occurred as the sparks ignited the fireworks wrapped in dynamite, sending them spiraling into the air.

And directly into Guardian Grarl.

A massive explosion covered the field in a cloud of dust, obscuring the monsters from view. When it cleared all that was left in the spot formerly occupied by Grarl was a large black scorch mark.

Rafael was growling furiously, "What the hell just happened?!"

Xander felt a little intimidated, but still grinned in satisfaction.

"Blast with Chain's second effect. When it is destroyed by another card's effect I can choose any card on the field to destroy." He said glad that he had the foresight to have cards in his deck with more than one trick attached to them, "And the card I chose to destroy is your Guardian Grarl!"

Rafael was still growling slightly at the destruction of one of his most powerful monsters. "Make no mistake kid, you're gonna pay for that!"

Xander gulped nervously before setting one monster face down and ending his turn, after placing his Breaker ready in attack mode.

Rafael drew two cards for his turn. He seemed to think for a moment before smiling thinly.

"I activate Monster Reborn and bring my Guardian Grarl back from the graveyard!" declared his adversary before activating the card.

A ball of light was the first to form but eventually it expanded, took shape and formed Guardian Grarl with Gravity Axe in hand and looking just as healthy as it had before having an explosive encounter with three holographic sticks of TNT. Definitely not a good thing because with it having three thousand attack points at its disposal and the Xan-man not having anything in his hand that came close he was definitely in a tight spot.

Xander groaned internally, _what's it take to kill that thing?_

He didn't get any time to ponder his question however.

"Guardian Grarl returns with Gravity Axe increasing his appoints to an impressive three thousand once more! Now, Guardian Grarl, destroy Breaker the Magical Warrior with decisive **chop!" **declared Rafael sounding eager to get some payback.

With a fierce roar Grarl leapt across the battlefield and made Breaker half the warrior he used to be before the crimson clad knight shattered like so much broken glass. Fortunately the Xan-man didn't lose as many life points as one might expect.

"What!? What's going on?" Rafael exclaimed in shock as he watched Xander's life points drop to just fifteen hundred instead of the one thousand he'd expected.

"Looks like you overlooked my face down card Rafael. Reveal face down card." He said and watched as his insurance revealed itself, "Thanks to the effects of my Reinforcements trap card my Breaker the Magical Warrior got a five hundred attack point boost just before your monster struck its blow. True I still lose six hundred life points and my monster but every little bit helps ya know."

Xander LP – 1500

Rafael LP – 3000

Rafael just smiled slightly before setting a card face down. "I end my turn."

"My turn again. Let's see what I draw this time." He said as he pulled a card from his deck.

_Pot of Greed! Yes! _He thought before slipping the card into the correct slot and saying, "I play Pot of Greed allowing me to draw two new cards from my deck."

Drawing said two cards he hoped that he managed to land something good in order to turn the duel in his favor. He was not disappointed as he found he had drawn Penumbral Solider Lady ATK 2100/Defense 1400 and the second of his special cards. While neither would be able to destroy Guardian Grarl outright they'd at least be able to limit the damage done to his life points.

"First I summon D.D Warrior Lady but she won't be hanging around long, since I immediately sacrifice her in order to summon Penumbral Solider Lady to the field." He declared as he carried out the sacrifice to bring the stronger monster to the field, "Then I end my turn."

"Not a very impressive move considering she can't destroy any of my monsters or withstand their attacks but then what else can I expect from a rookie!" Rafael said as the card he had placed face down flipped up.

"Perhaps Rafael but monsters are good for more than just attacking ones opponent. I end my turn." He said after putting one card face down.

"It's about all you can do with your strongest monster stopped cold." Rafael said as he drew two cards from his deck, "It's a shame you can't say the same about **my** monsters! Now I play the card Rod of Silence and when equipped with my Backup Gardna it increases his attack and defense points by five hundred." Rafael declared as a staff of some blue colored stone grew from the ground within a cocoon of crystal before exploding free and being picked up by Gardna, "But that's not the only thing it'll do for me! Using its special effect I can summon Guardian Castor to the field!"

With a beam of light shot from Rod of Silence a mermaid like creature appeared on the field but to the Xan-man's surprise she only had one thousand attack points. Not exactly the heavy hitter he'd expected biker boy to bring out, not that it made much difference with the way things were going.

"Guardian Grarl attack his helpless Penumbral Solider Lady! Decisive Chop!"

Bound as she was in the Nightmare Binding, Penumbral soldier lady could not even hope to mount a defense. Xander winced as his life-points took a sudden dive.

Xander LP – 600

Rafael LP – 3000

But it wasn't over 'til the fat lady sang.

"Go Guardian Castor! Attack!" Rafael ordered pointing out his desired target, "Pure Waterspout!"

"Nice try! I activate my face down card, Magic Shield Arm!" He said as he watched a large shield appear in front of him. Then a pair of extendable arms reached out from the shield, grabbing hold of Guardian Grarl and placing it in front of the attack. With a roar of rage the massive monster charged straight through the Waterspout and cleaved Guardian Castor in half before returning to its previous position beside Backup Guardna.

Xander heaved a sigh of relief as the Magic shield arm dissipated, catching sight of the new life-point totals.

Xander LP – 600

Rafael LP – 1000

_That card really saved my skin. I might even have a chance of winning._

"I knew you'd stop my Castor's attack but you also left yourself wide open to a second attack from my Backup Gardna!" Rafael declared with a grin, seemingly unaffected by the loss to his life-points "Go Backup Gardna! Attack his life-points!"

"Not so fast Rafael! I play the second of my four special cards, the Watchful Mage, and activate his special ability: Noble Sacrifice!" he declared quickly putting the card into the right slot, "Go my Mage! Intercept his attack!"

Now with this card he gave some real thought as to how the monster should look and actually did a search on the internet to find just the right combination of clothes and choose what the physical characteristics would be. The first obvious physical feature would be the long white or gray hair along with a decent beard since it was practically an unwritten rule that there was no such thing as a young power mage. Everyone from Merlin to Gandalf had gray or white beards and let their hair grow to hippy length with only the risk of tripping over it keeping them from growing their hair longer. Next he added a leather headband with a sapphire in the center resting right in the middle of the Mage's forehead. He knew he could have gone for the stereotypical pointy hat but he figured the headband had more intimidation qualities to it than the hat. The face was all Giles since he was able to show the people who actually made the card picture of the gang from back home and they were able to paste the face in. Next came the clothes which he used a combination of Gandalf's usual attire as illustrated by a certain artist and some impressive looking armor that looked like it came from Camelot with magic symbols carved into each piece. Then to top it all off he gave The Watchful Mage a staff that while made of wood for the most part had branch like fingers at the top wrapped around a crystal ball that seemed to glow lightly with its own inner light. All in all he figured G-Man would be almost touched by this representation of him which meant it was a good thing that the Watcher didn't watch TV or 'annoy the Brit' season would end earlier than it should.

"You can't do that! A monster that powerful needs a sacrifice before it can be summoned to the field! Never mind that it is still my turn!" Rafael said objecting to the act that had kept him from winning the duel.

"Perhaps but the Watchful Mage's special ability can be used at any time so long as he is either on the field on in my hand." He explained as he watched the smoke clear from the destruction of his Mage, "The only catch is that in using Noble Sacrifice I must now remove my monster from play for the remainder of the duel."

With those words he removed the card from his duel disk and slipped it into his pocket. It was truthfully a painful move since not only did it take useful monster from him but it also made it impossible for him to pull out his trump card later. Without three of the four special cards he'd made available, of which the Scarlet Wicca and the Watchful Mage made up two of the three, the strongest monster in his deck could not be summoned to the field. Given where his paranoia told him this duel was going he could seriously have used his big gun but now he would have to hope that another solution would present itself.

Xander LP – 600

Rafael LP – 1000

"You're as good a duelist as Yugi says you are Rafael but I wouldn't get too full of yourself just yet. I've heard enough from the King of Games and his friends to know that it ain't over 'til my life points hit zero." He said trying to sound like it was just a minor set back when in fact it was a **MAJOR** one.

"Whatever kid. I finish my turn and hold onto this one card I have left." Rafael said letting the 'words of wisdom' bounce off of him, "That should give you something of a chance right?"

Not even bothering to dignify that question with a response he drew another card from his deck hoping that it was something he could use. Looking at the card he knew it wasn't exactly the kick ass monster he was hoping for but it just might provide him with one if his luck took a turn for the better.

"I play the magic card Treasure of God! Thanks to this card we can both keep drawing from our hands until we each hold a total of six cards in our hands." He said and immediately drew the four cards he was lacking.

Looking at what he drew he knew that Lady Luck had to be feeling sorry for him right now because he had just drawn exactly what he needed to turn this duel around. The monster card Judge Man ATK 2200/Defense 1500, the magic card Dian Keto the Cure Master, The Warrior Returning Alive spell card and the spell card Hammer Shot were the four that had been drawn. With this set of cards not only could he turn the duel around but he could also bring another of his best cards onto the field. With a smile he usually reserved for when Deadboy was going to get into trouble he looked up and gave Rafael a face full of it.

"Get Ready Rafael because now is the time for the end game to start! First I play the magic card Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my life points by one thousand." He declared after sliding the card into the correct slot and watched his life points climb, "Then I play the magic card Monster Reborn to summon The Scarlet Wicca, activating her second effect at the cost of 1000 life-points to retrieve monster reborn and put it in my hand, but she's only here to introduce an even bigger star. So I tribute her and summon to the field the master of the courtroom Judge Man ATK 2200/ Defense 1500!"

"However I'm not done by a long shot. While I know that this card isn't enough to crush your Guardian Grarl I having something else to send that overgrown iguana to the graveyard." He said before sliding his next card into the appropriate slot and activating it, "I activate the spell card Hammer Shot and using its effect I destroy your mighty Grarl! Next I use the magic card The Warrior Returning Alive to bring back my Penumbral Warrior Lady to the field."

"Looks like things they are a changin' Rafael. You're now one monster down and in terms of life points we're nearly even. Add to that the fact that the only monster you do have on the field is barely strong enough to destroy one of my monsters and it is hardly worth mentioning." He said admiring his defense while it lasted since he knew that a duelist of Rafael's caliber would be able to find a way around it, "Since I have no other cards to play I guess I'll end my turn."

Rafael didn't have a whole lot to say about that and just went about drawing his two cards to add to the six he had in his hand. The look on biker boy's made it clear that he intended to retake the lead in this duel but also teach the Xan-man a lesson in the process. Probably didn't like the idea of a nobody who didn't even know what Duel Monsters was until a week or so ago managing to hold his own against the mighty Rafael. After all from the way that he'd heard it from Mokuba his brother had become obsessed after that first defeat at the hands of Yugi with defeating the King of Games and reclaiming his championship title. While biker boy might not be a champion in name he was definitely a high-ranking duelist with a fair bit of pride in his skills. Pride that was taking some serious hits at the hands of one Alexander LaVelle Harris and Rafael did **not** look happy about that.

"Don't expect your monsters to last Harris because while things do change every once and awhile they also tend to stay the same more often than not." Rafael said a smile that was definitely predatory, "Now it's my turn to show you how it's done!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Seto Kaiba's Point of View, One Second Later 

_Not bad for an amateur._ Seto thought as he watched the duel unfold before him, _Hard to believe he's any relation of Tony Harris._

Then again that had been his position from the first moment he laid eyes on the young man but he'd made sure that no one even considered that he might actually see the boy as anything other than a bothersome burden. If someone had told him a month ago that he'd be playing host to some American kid for two weeks he'd have given them his best glare and then told them precisely how long they had before he ruined them completely. However thanks to his connection with Anthony Harris he had been forced to consider doing something that would have been beneath him otherwise. Still it was a good move now that he had time to think about it and had the potential to benefit him greatly assuming those fools he had sent to Sunnydale did their jobs properly. To think that it had all started with a similar risky business venture in the form of his hostile take over of Kaiba Corp from his step-father Gozaburo.

While it had been true that he had done most of the work concerning the acquisition of controlling interest in the company it had been Anthony Harris that had provided him with the occasional key piece of information he needed to get it. Tony had never been an important employee at Kaiba Corps but had been a fall guy that his step-father kept close just in case. The other members of the big five also used Harris as a scapegoat when it suited their purposes and while it never led to Tony's dismissal from the company it did cost him in terms of money as well as his professional reputation. It had been that fact that he'd used to manipulate the man into eavesdropping on Gozaburo and the Big Five to learn ahead of time what their plans would be. While a smart C.E.O would have the sense to tell Tony to leave the room anytime something important was being discussed. Fortunately Anthony's reputation for being a spineless coward and lackey made it inconceivable to those fools that he would ever do anything as risky as spy for the enemy.

_From there it had been simple to use the information I'd gained on the Big Five to trick them into siding with me against Gozaburo. _He thought with a slight smile at that memorable day when the tyrant was voted out of his position, _While I had no choice but to strip those five fools of their power in order to keep them from turning on me later Tony was another matter. He had information that the Big Five could use to ruin me before I even got started taking the company in a completely different direction._

So as soon as he could he managed to convince Tony that he needed to go into hiding for a year or so until things settled down. He'd even gone so far as to promise the man a high-ranking position upon his return. A promise he of course never intended to keep and aside from a small stipend at the end of every month he'd let the year become two, then three, and eventually forgot about the man altogether. It had only been a few months ago that he'd received a letter in the mail from Tony that some concern began to show itself. Apparently Tony hadn't been as stupid as he'd looked and eventually caught onto the fact that his 'deal' wasn't as concrete as it had once been. So Anthony had tried to make a deal: in exchange for being the point man on a monopolization of Duel Monsters business in the United States (with him being the real power and Xander being a figurehead) he'd keep his mouth shut about all the secrets he'd been privy to during his time as a spy. While most of what he suspected the elder Harris knew was useless there was a chance that there were a few kernels of information that could potentially harm him financially. So in the end he had agreed on the condition that he got to inspect Xander himself in person before he agreed to anything. The reason he gave was that he wanted to see how hard it would be to control the younger Harris and how believable he'd be as Kaiba Corps U.S commander in chief. The real reason though was that he needed time to plug any holes and destroy any evidence that could damage him should Tony carry thought on his threat.

Imagine his surprise when his limo pulled up to the front door of his mansion and revealed a teenager so different from Tony that only a thorough background check had convinced him of their relation. As the days past, though he never let anyone know, he actually began to see the teenager as Xander Harris rather than just Tony's brat. It was then that he had come up with a new plan that if it worked would not only provide him with a means of eliminating Tony's threat for good but also provide him with a dueling ally. True he was plenty strong enough to beat anyone in a duel nine times out of ten but past experience had taught him that unfortunately even he could be defeated with the right application of that 'magic' nonsense. That was why he hadn't thrown up much of a fuss when Ishida had named Xander as the rookie member of Team Kaiba. While he certainly hadn't been happy with not having enough time to scout potential candidates that Ishida might have chosen he was willing to give the younger Harris a chance to prove himself.

In the days that followed, both with the card designs and the progress during Alexander's dueling lessons, he found himself revising his opinion of the young man again and again. While he regrettably seemed to share the 'fair play' and 'sportsmanship' that seemed to be the theme of Yugi and his geek squad there was also a candle-sized flame of ruthlessness inside of him. There was the potential there to become a serious competitor in the Duel Monsters League second only to perhaps himself and that interested him greatly. While he had a moment of doubt when he had learned that Harris' first opponent would be Rafael Xander was managing to stay neck in neck with someone possessing a great deal more experience.

_The question now is: can he actually win this duel? _He thought to himself as he tried to deduce where the duel would go from here.

Somehow he figured he'd have the answer to his question soon enough.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Main Duelling Platform, One Second Later 

"My turn Harris." Rafael said as he drew two cards from his deck.

The smile that appeared on his face was **NOT** what the Xan-man wanted to see because he remembered what happened afterwards when **he** was smiling like that.

"Looks like fate has decided to end this duel right now Harris! Thanks to my Guardian Treasure and your Treasure of God card I now have what I need to crush all your monsters at once!" Rafael declared before slipping one card into his duel disk, "First I play Soul Revival which frees all of the monsters currently residing in my graveyard returning them to the top of my deck. Then I play Celestial Sword!"

**_NOT GOOD!_** Xander thought as he recalled what both Joey and Yugi had said about this card, _Definitely **NOT GOOD!**_

"To use that sword I summon my Guardian Eatos ATK 2500/2000 to the field and use Backup Guardna's effect to transfer Celestial Sword and equip it to Guardian Eatos." Rafael said with growing confidence, "Now I know from Mr. Ishida that you've been hanging out with Yugi and his friends so I'm sure you know what comes next. Guardian Eatos! Activate Spirit of Celestial Sword!"

With an almost visible ripple through the air he suddenly felt as though some sort of unknown force was causing the arm with his duel disk on it to be held up in the air whether he wanted it to or not.

"As I'm sure you know thanks to the Eatos' special ability all the attack points from the monsters in your graveyard are now added to her attack points." Rafael said as images of The Scarlet Wicca, D.D. Warrior Lady and Breaker the Magical Warrior appeared above the platform before becoming one with Celestial Sword, "By my count that makes her fifty-nine hundred attack points strong! More than enough to bring this duel to an explosive end."

_No shit asshole!_ Xander thought with frustration since he knew that neither his Watchful Mage nor his Penumbral Lady Warrior were strong enough to survive such an assault.

"However I think I'll let you squirm a little first. It might be fun to see you go into meltdown trying to figure out a way to defeat my Guardian Eatos!" Rafael commanded and refrained from attacking this once, "I end my turn."

Looking down at his deck he tried to figure out what card could save his bacon this time, what card could possibly topple Guardian Eatos and what card could win him the duel. It was truly his most desperate hour and in that moment he remembered a little bit of philosophical info that Yugi had once given him during one of their mini-duels at the school. He said that every duelist, knowingly or unknowingly, put their heart and soul into creating their own dueling deck. As long as the duelist put their faith in the heart of the cards they would always find a way to come through in the end. To tell the truth he hadn't been sure about whether or not Yugi had been speaking literally or metaphorically or even metaphysically but at the moment he'd take it any way he could that might get him out of this mess.

_I don't know if there really is a heart of the cards in my deck or if what Yugi said was just meant to be inspirational. _He thought almost directing his thoughts to his deck, _But if you can hear me please give me the card I need to have a fighting chance at winning this duel._

With that thought he slipped a card out from his deck and in an abrupt jerk he held it out in front of him in order to see if his prayers had been answered. When he saw what card he'd drawn he didn't know whether to start laughing or try and figure out if something paranormal had just lent him a helping hand. Whatever the case it was enough to give him some time to figure out how to defeat Eatos and maybe even win this duel.

"Just remember Rafael that you asked for this. I play the magic card **Swords of Revealing Light**!" he declared before slipping the card into the right slot and activating it, "Thanks to this card your Guardian Eatos cannot attack for a whole three turns and that buys me just enough time to lay out the groundwork for your defeat."

With the activation of the card swords composed of the element mentioned in the name of the card dropped down from above and surrounded his opponent's side of the field. However this card would only buy him three turns and he would probably need every single one of them if he hoped to bring down his Guardian Eatos.

"Time, that's all you've bought for yourself Harris, and that'll run out soon enough." Rafael said as he drew two cards from his deck, "Looks like you luck out this time. I end my turn."

"Smart move." He responded putting more confidence than he felt into his voice.

_If I don't take him down in one attack, he'll destroy me._ He thought with his mind beginning to wear down from all the stress it was under.

Drawing a card he looked at it to see if it could be any help in making his monster stronger or weakening Eatos. It was definitely a good start and might buy him some time if he didn't have what he needed by the time the Swords of Revealing light wore off. However to keep Rafael from figuring out his plan too early he'd keep the card in his hand until just before the Swords faded away and then play it. Until then he would act as though he had nothing of value and just move things along.

"I end my turn." He said sounding discouraged and frustrated.

"No luck huh? Guess you used it all up and now all you have is what little skill you were born with." Rafael said as he drew a card from his hand, "I summon Guardian Eruma to the field. Using her special ability I can take a magic equip card from the graveyard and equip her with it so I choose Butterfly Dagger, increasing her attack points by three hundred. That'll do it for now Harris so I end my turn." So saying he discarded one card from his hand, bringing it back to the six card limit.

"My draw then." He said as he pulled his new card from the deck.

Looking at the card he saw that it was another magic card that while useful was no good to him at the moment. So again he decided to keep the card he had drawn in his hand and not put it on the field for fear of Rafel destroying it too early.

"Shit." He said in anger before turning an impressive glare at his adversary, "I end my turn."

"Guess Lady Luck really did wise up and side with me. Don't worry though Harris because once the effects of your swords of revealing light wear off I'll end it all in one turn." Rafael said as he drew two cards from his deck, " I play Defence Shield and equip it to my Guardian Eruma increasing her Defence points by three hundred. Then I summon my Guardian Castor back to the field. I will leave everything but Eatos in defence mode. One more turn Harris and then you get wiped out both in this duel and the tournament. I end my turn."

"Don't bet on it Rafael." He stated as he drew the last free card he'd be able to even as the Swords of Revealing Light faded.

_JACKPOT!_ He though to himself as he saw the card he'd drawn, _Looks like Lady Luck just wanted a taste of something different before remembering just how much I love her!_

"Looks like God decided to cut me a break Rafael because now I sacrifice my Judge Man along with my Penumbral Soldier Lady in order to summon a monster with attack points that are pretty damn high." He said as he removed the Ladies from their slots and put the card he'd drawn in its place, "Say hello to the Dark Magician of Chaos ATK 2800/Defense 2600!"

With that a dark cloud that crackled with purple lightning appeared over his side of the dueling platform and then with one thunderous bolt of lightning coming down from on high there was a flash of light that when gone revealed a leather clad, staff wielding Magician with (in Xander's opinion) a serious mascara problem.

_I can win! Eat that biker-boy. Time to teach you a lesson._ He thought with a grin.

Practically trembling in excitement, Xander began what would be his final move, one way or another.

"I activate Big Bang Shot and equip it to my Dark Magician of Chaos, increasing his attack to thirty two hundred! Next I will activate Soul Release, removing all monsters in my graveyard from play!" A pang of regret pierced his heart as he did this, placing his monsters in his pocket safely alongside the Watchful Mage.

"And what was the point of that? Other than wasting my time?"

Xander's head snapped up to look Rafael in the eyes, a shadow awakening within his own. Rafael shivered slightly as he felt like someone had just done a river dance on his grave.

"With no monsters left in my Graveyard, your Eatos loses the power granted by the Spirit of Celestial Sword, leaving her with the original attack of twenty-five hundred!"

Rafael could do nothing more than watch in numb shock as the Guardian Eatos who had protected him since he was a child was sapped of her power.

"Now go my Magician! Destroy his Guardian Eatos with Chaos Staff Blast!" he ordered and watched as his monster let loose a blast of purple energy that obliterated the Guardian monster and took seven hundred life points from Rafael.

Xander LP – 500

Rafael LP – 300

The duel wasn't over yet but it might as well have been because with the Dark Magician of Chaos on his side and Rafael now only had three monsters on the field and none of them were strong enough to challenge his monster. In fact he only had to destroy one of them in order to end the duel since even biker boy's strongest monster would cost him seven hundred points once it was destroyed. So unless a miracle happened in the next turn this duel was all his!

"Bad move kid! By destroying my Guardian Eatos and sending her to the graveyard you've allowed me to summon a creature with more than enough attack points to squash your Dark Magician of Chaos." Rafael said as a dark mist began to appear on his side of the field, "Say hello to my Guardian Deathscythe 2500/2100! Also now that she is on the field she is automatically equipped with the card Axe of the God of Death which raises her attack points by five hundred for every monster card in the graveyard."

"What still doesn't make her strong enough to defeat my Magician Rafael!" he said with his mind saying he'd win but his heart beginning to worry.

"True if I just stopped there that would be the case but that's not the way it's going to be. I sacrifice Backup Guardna, Guardian Eruma and Guardian Castor in order to boost by monster's attack points by an additional fifteen hundred!" Rafael declared before each of the named monsters shattered their way to the card graveyard, "Bringing her attack points to a grand total of forty-five hundred! You may have gotten lucky last time Harris but there's no way you can summon a monster strong enough to beat Deathscythe. At least not before I deliver the final blow to your Dark Magician of Chaos and rob you of the life points you have left. In fact I'm going to cut you some slack and not attack this turn! So go ahead and draw your last pathetic card! I end my turn."

_How can I win this!?_ He thought with fear gripping his soul, _There are only a select few monsters in the entire game capable of reaching forty-five hundred attack points or higher! Even if I have one of them in my deck those kind of monsters take more than one turn to summon to the field or even empower to reach that level!_

Reaching for his deck to draw his next card he was startled to find that his hand was frozen in place mere inches from it. No matter how hard he tried to pick a card his hand would not move forward. It was almost as though something sentient was keeping him away from his deck. Almost like a pet that no longer entirely trusted its master and so kept its distance save in moments when it had no choice but to get closer. It was then that he flashed back to Yugi's retelling of his first duel with Seto Kaiba and how he had felt in the final moments of the duel. Apparently even the King of Games could feel unsure of himself and doubt the ability of his deck to see him through to victory. Yugi had said that it felt as though the cards had sensed his doubt and refused to be played by someone that didn't have complete faith in them. Could something like that be happening now? He wanted to say that it was nonsense, that he'd left the supernatural back on the Hellmouth, but something in his soul told him that there was more to Duel Monsters than what he was seeing. Reaching deep within himself he forced his doubts to the side and gathered up the confidence and trust he had for the gang back home before attaching those same feelings to his cards.

_I'm sorry I doubted you guys. I know that each one of your is an important part of my being as a duelist and that all I have to do is have faith in your if I want to win. _He thought at his cards trying to convince them that he no longer lacked trust in them, _So let's give this last turn everything we got and end this!_

With those words the force that had been keeping his hand from drawing a card from the deck vanished into nothingness as though it had never been there in the first place. With a smile he drew a card and once he saw it with his eyes his smile only grew as whatever remaining doubt within him was obliterated.

This duel was over.

"You really should have attacked me last turn Rafael because now there'll be no 'next turn' for you! I sacrifice my Dark Magician of Chaos to summon to the field the third special card I had made for this tournament." He declared before slapping the just drawn card onto his duel disk, "Say hello to The Golden Slayer ATK 1800/Defense 1500!"

"HA! You must have finally snapped under the pressure! Why would you sacrifice a strong monster for one with over one thousand less attack points?" Rafael asked as he struggled to keep his laughing under control.

"Perhaps because like the hero she is it is possible for her to get stronger than anything under the right circumstances. For example by activating the first of her special abilities called 'Raiding the Armory' which allows her to redirect any equip magic card being used by my opponent to her!" he replied as he watched the Scythe of the Death God vanish from Deathscythe's hands and reappear (albeit smaller to better fit her size) in the hands of the Golden Slayer, "Without the scythe your monster's attack points decrease back to their original twenty-five hundred. In the case of the Golden Slayer though her attack points increase by five hundred bringing her to a total of twenty-three hundred!"

"It's still not enough! My Guardian Deathscythe can still destroy your weak monster!" Rafael said furiously as he watched the beginnings of a repeat taking form.

"True but it opens the door for the next of my monster's special abilities called 'Courageous Strength' which allows my monster to temporarily increase its attack points by six hundred so long as the target isn't more than six hundred greater attack points stronger than her." He explained before whipping out his left arm and pointing at Deathscythe, "Now go my Slayer! Attack Guardian Deathscythe! GOLDEN SLASH!"

With a distorted warrior cry the Golden Slayer leapt into the air and with three complete spins to build up momentum cut through Deathscythe from shoulder to hip. Like shattered glass the best monster in Rafael's deck lost to the **second** strongest monster in his deck and thanks to 'Courageous Strength' increasing Slayer's strength to twenty-nine hundred it also cost biker boy four hundred life points. Given that the man had possessed only three hundred of them prior to arrival of the Golden Slayer it didn't take a genius to know what that meant.

"That's game Rafael." He said while giving a respectful salute to an opponent he'd almost been unable to defeat.

As Rafael looked up at him he was for a brief moment worried that the man might actually attack him or something. That fear was rendered even more likely when biker boy began to walk across the now deactivated dueling platform towards him with steady strong steps. When it became such that there was less than two feet between the two of them he wondered how he would fare now that he actually had to fight the guy himself rather than monster to monster.

As it turns out he was worried for nothing because in a move that surprised just about everyone in the arena Rafael extended his hand for a handshake and had a grudging smile on his face.

"I gotta say kid that it's not often that I duel someone that can pull this many surprises out of his hat in one match but you did it." Rafael said with respect in his voice to match the smile on his face.

He hesitated only for a moment before taking Rafael's hand and shaking it firmly with a respectful smile of his own present on his face.

"You were pretty full of surprises yourself biker boy. You kept me on my toes the entire duel and showed me what it takes to be a real duelist." He stated honestly and without his usual American sense of humor, "I hope you'll do me a favor one day and agree to a rematch because quite frankly this was **a BLAST!**"

That last sentence pretty much shattered the serious handshake between fellow duelists he figured Rafael was shooting for but he just couldn't help himself. Hearing the crowd roaring around him, the excitement that came from coming out on top, and most of all just plain managing to not look like a complete newbie had him seriously stoked. He could now understand why there was a Duel Monsters League and why the game itself was so popular.

"You got yourself a deal kid." Rafael said before turning around and heading back to the Team Ishida locker room, "Just remember that next time it'll take more than luck and a few good cards to beat me next time."

"Sure thing!" he said before shutting down his duel disk and following his honorable adversary's example by heading back to the Team Kaiba locker room.

"There you have it folks! The first duel of the tournament is done putting a win in Team Kaiba's column giving them the early lead!" Declared the announcer with all the fanfare and excitement the crowd was filling the arena with, "However this tournament is far from over and only time will tell who will be the final winner when all is said and done!"

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Note: To all you dueling fans out there I apologize in advance if you see anything here that goes against the rules of the real life game or perhaps a fact shown in the Anime series. While I had some help from a good beta in ironing out most of the problems and conflicts there might be a few lying around. I can only ask that you tolerate half of them by writing it off as artistic license and let the rest slide because of the quality work I've done in the past. If this idea makes it to becoming a full blown fanfic I will do my best to reduce the number of flaws even further if not eliminate them outright.

Thank you!


	17. Between Darkness and Light

"Between Darkness and Light" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

(BtVS/007 James Bond)

Disclaimer : I do not own either of the copyrighted properties featured in this drabble/short for they are the registered property of Joss Whedon and Ian Flemming. I am making no profit whatsoever from this so any attempts to get money from me would be a waste of both time and lawyer fees. I am writing this for the readers who like my work, like BtVS and like the James Bond films.

Note: This is just to inform you who have been reading the 'Dreams and Ideas' collection of where the votes stand at the moment.

Phoenix Effect

Counterparts and Causes

The Cold Face of Destiny

Son of War

The Trickster in Me

When these five will be written I do not know but I just thought I'd let you know how things stand so if one of the ideas you like is not in the top five you can try and do something about that. Tell your friends, tell everyone, and get them to submit a review for the fanfic idea you really want to be expanded into a complete fan fiction work.

Now with that out of the way let's get to the good stuff! Cue the music….

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The Morning After the Halloween Janus Spell, Xander's Room 

_Now I see what people mean by the morning after._ Xander thought to himself as he threw his legs over the side of his bed and sat up.

Despite the images and memories still floating about his head from the previous night's festivities he had to smile a bit at this bit of wit. However the smile faded when he realized where it had more than likely come from or rather the fact that it came from more than one source now. The best word he could come up with to describe his current situation would be troubling because while there were certain benefits there were some rather permanent downsides as well. Hard to believe that it had started out as just an enforced bit of 'volunteer' work where he, Buffy and Willow had to chaperon a bunch of elementary school kids around town for trick or treating.

The three of them had been just walking down the halls of the school talking about school, Scooby business and what plans they had for Halloween when Snyder had come out of nowhere and snagged Buffy for chaperon duty along with him and Willow. It wasn't something that any of them had been looking forward to but at the same time they had all known that if they ditched Snyder would come up with some kind of punishment that was **much** worse. So half with dread at having to deal with a bunch of suger hyped rugrats and half with joy at being able to dress up like someone else they had gone down to the new costume shop named "Ethan's" for their outfits. His first idea for a costume was one of a standard American soldier since he knew of an army surplus store where he could get some fatigues on the cheap. All he'd need to get would be a toy gun to complete the image and he'd be all set to go. Unfortunately by the time he got to the bin where the plastic guns were kept there was nothing in there that would go with an army outfit because all the guns were pistols or some other form of hand gun. For officers or army people in dress uniform a simple side arm like that might have been appropriate but his idea of a soldier would be an in-the-trenches type which meant an automatic rifle or something equally impressive looking. So he had been left in a bit of limbo trying to formulate some sort of alternate idea for a costume when the Brit owner of the place came up behind him and asked if there was anything he could do to help.

In hindsight he now knew that that was the moment he should have been wary because in the past when a stranger had shown up in town offering help it usually meant trouble.

However he had been pacified by Buffy telling him earlier that Giles had declared Halloween to be apocalypse free and the need for a suitable costume was enough to get him to ignore the paranoid voice in the back of his mind. He'd then proceeded to explain to the man how his idea for a costume had been shot to hell by the lack of certain accessories leaving him in the lurch for the 'volunteet work' later that evening. He's then inquired if the shop owner had any ideas or suggestions and that was another thing in hindsight that he should have been more careful about. The Englishman then took him about the store pointing out some possibilities that he said 'would look simply smashing on you' only to have most of them shot down either because they would make him look a little too like Deadboy or would make him a target of the jock squad. However just when it looked like the owner of the store had looked ready to lose his 'always polite to the customer' façade he showed the Xan-man a costume that hooked him instantly.

It didn't look like much at first glance, pretty much a generic tuxedo, but when the owner began to give a summary of what it was supposed to be it became something more than that. According to the manager it was a spy costume modelled after several lesser known spy movies and a friend he knew back in England. The tux had a few hidden compartments here and there along with a shoulder harness for a holster where just about any handgun could fit. Once in his head the idea of going out as some super suave spy guy armed and ready for anything quickly got him pumped. Turning to the guy he then had asked what the price on the costume was only to find out it was a good thirty dollars more than he had on him at the moment. However in a gesture of generosity the man had agreed to give him the outfit for what he had so long as he told everyone where he got the outfit. It had seemed to be too good to be true and that was the one time that the wariness fighting the paranormal had created got his attention with a warning that something was up. However when he looked over at where Buffy was gushing over a puffy old style dress that he **knew** was for a certain animated corpse that was all it took to shove his wariness away. So it was that he had walked out of that place with the tux in a bag at his side and a toy replica of a Walther P99 in there as well.

When he had arrived at Buffy's place it had taken a bit of coaxing for them to see the whole 'spy guy' look of his outfit rather than assume he was a butler or something. From there things had gone pretty much according to plan with the three of them heading to the school, picking up their brats and then heading out. However it had been about half an hour before they were due to head back to the school something had happened that apparently not even Giles could predict. All of a sudden he was no longer in control of his own body and someone else was in the driver's seat. For the first little while he had been more than a little freaked and had tried to regain control by whatever means he could think up regardless of how ridiculous they might have been. However no matter how hard he tried all he had been able to do was watch as the personae in control of his body fended off a couple of mini-demons without killing even one of them. This had been a relief for him since he knew that those tiny little monsters were actually kids that had been changed like he had. Instead of pulling his Walther P99 like he had feared his spy personae would do the artificial mind had used a combination of quick movements and some solid punches to taken them down. It had been an impressive display and for a moment he thought that kicking it back in the passenger seat of his body might not be so bad after all.

That however was when things had taken a turn towards the embarrassing when Willow had shown up wearing an outfit that made his mental self's jaw drop in shock while the spy personae used his body to give her an admiring once over. From there the man had begun to inquire as to what was going on while at the time dropping double entendres about Willow's appearance. Most of course went right over the mousy redhead's genius head but the ones that she did count were such that he had expected her ghost body to do the impossible and faint right there of embarrassment. Once the guy had gotten whatever flirting he had out of his system he had agreed to go with Willow to look for Buffy who was likely scared stupid right then.

_I wasn't too far off the mark there either. _He thought as he recalled him and Willow coming across Lady Useless running away from a car claiming it was a demon.

It was when his spy personae started putting the moves on Lady Useless that he had come to the conclusion that the spy was unable to keep himself from seducing any attractive woman regardless of the situation. He personally hoped that when he went into school today that they didn't hold his costumes actions against him or he was going to be stuck with 'Female Glare No. 5' for a while.

Once they had arrived back at Buffy's place to both hide and plan their next course of action he had been somewhat relieved when his costume personae chose to scout out all the ways in and out of the house rather than continue his game of seduction. Of course he had known that once the spy had accomplished that he would not hesitate to pick up where he had left off and was only partially glad when Cordy had come screaming down the street outside. It had on the plus side of things provided more business for the costume to do thus keeping him from turning Willow any redder than she was at that point. It was also because thanks to Cordelia's skintight cat suit it gave the ladies man an irresistible target that couldn't possibly make things worse for him when he went to school today. After all Cordy already treated him like a social outcast and took almost every opportunity to mock his class level so he figured it wouldn't change much if something his costume personae said wound up offending her. The downside though was that it might lead Willow to test him over the next few weeks to see if he actually had any interest in Cordy or if what happened was all the costume's doing.

The rest of the night was pretty much non-stop action since thanks to Deadboy Lady Useless had run off out the back door while he was wrestling with a newbie vamp on the floor. How it had been possible for a newbie to be so much trouble for a fang face a good century older he'd never figure out. They'd eventually found Buffy and just in time since a few minutes later and pirate Larry would have crossed a serious line that would have put him on more than one person's shit list. While he had hoped at the time that the group would be able to make it to some haven in time to avoid getting into more trouble that was when Mr. Murphy had decided to have a little fun. Just as they had been heading out of the alleyway between warehouses Spike had shown up with a posse of real demons and transformed children. Both he and the spy personae were in agreement that a direct confrontation would **not** be in their best interests which led to a search for some place they could hole up in until sunrise. They managed to get into a warehouse but despite vigorous efforts to block the door they used to come in it proved to be no use against demonic strength as well as superior numbers. It was then that his spy self had pulled the Walther P99 from its holster and ordered everyone to get behind him in order to ensure he didn't hit one of them by accident. Naturally both Willow and Lord Forehead had told him he couldn't use his gun on the monsters because some of them were actually transformed children but the suave secret agent had reassured them that he would shoot to wound only.

A lie of course but one that was necessary as far as the spy was concerned if any of them were to survive the encounter to come.

When the demons and transformed kids managed to get inside the spy in him did his best to snipe shots that would greatly reduce the mobility of the enemy while not being immediatel lethal or difficult to recover from in the hospital. In the end though his restraint cost them since the real demons weren't all that impressed by bullets and the transformed kids were small enough that it was next to impossible to get a shot that he could live with. In a matter of minutes he had the gun knocked from his hand and had any attempt to fight hand-to-hand ended with a few staggering blows delivered by the demons. Restrained from behind all that the spy personae could do was make threats and try to make the demons believe he was more dangerous than he looked at the moment. Threats of the 'I-will-hunt-you-down' and 'there-will-be-no-place-you-can-hide-from-me' nature were issued but naturally the genetically coded arrogance that just about every demon had made them dismiss his threats a second after they were issued. He was just glad when the spell came to an unexpected end and Buffy went from being Lady Useless to the Slayer she was meant to be. Monsters turned back into kids and the few real demons that had been there knew enough to make tracks when the Slayer started acting like her usual kick ass self.

Things pretty much got tied up rather quickly with Spike barely managing to avoid getting dusted, a fate two of his minions avoid, and running off like the coward he was. From there things pretty much consisted of rounding up the kids he, Buffy and Willow had been put in charge of and getting them back to the High School. He suspected it was that task that allowed him to ignore the new thoughts and knowledge bouncing around his head.

Now, the day after, however he did not appear to have that luxury.

_So the question now becomes 'what do I do with what I have'._ He thought as he began to consider his options.

He now had memories of a life as a double oh agent in Great Britain's MI6 and a particularly successful one if what he recalled could be trusted. That essentially made him a very dangerous man in many ways and that could make him into a real player in the fight alongside Buffy against the forces of darkness. While it was true that guns meant little to most demons if he used the right ones properly he could at least soften them up so that Buff' could deliver the knockout punch. Also it wasn't just firearms he knew his way around now but also a multitude of other weapons as well as a few forms of unarmed combat. After all one didn't become a double oh by being a one trick pony, not if one wanted to last long, so with a wide assortment of knowledge he was confident that he could really make a difference.

However the question then became: what was the best way to make that difference?

While his first inclination was to come clean with the gang and let them know exactly what he was capable of another part of him, perhaps the spy part, was against that. While most of the demons in Sunnydale were probably too proud or stupid to keep tabs on the Scoobies he knew there had to be at least a few that had the intellect to keep an eye on them. If they took notice of his new skills he had no doubt the demons would take steps to render his new knowledge and abilities useless or at the very least difficult to utilize against them. That would put him right back where he started or even worse allow the demons to use him to place the gang in danger by using his knowledge to their advantage. The thought of being indirectly the cause of harm coming to his friends chilled him to the bone and in the end he knew he had but one choice.

He would have to maintain the illusion of being the 'comic relief' and 'sometimes helpful' part of the Scooby gang utilizing the knowledge he'd gained from spy guy only when there was no other way for he and his friends to triumph. It would be tough, staying in a role that would now be a lie, but if it would keep those he cared about alive he would do it.

_Pretending to be someone harmless while in fact possibly being the most dangerous of the entire group._ He thought with a grim smile, _An impossible task before but now all too familiar thanks to the memories I got from one double oh seven agent named James Bond._

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So it came to pass that despite receiving the memories as well as other traits from the world's most infamous super spy one Xander LaVelle Harris remained in the role he had been in since the formation of the Scooby gang. The role of the morale officer and occasionally the third opinion that while often not thought of at first turned out to be the most feasible course of action. Only at certain points was he forced to tap into the knowledge he'd gained Halloween night: a) The robbery of the rocket launcher from the military base, b) The fight in the library when vamps interrupted Willow's attempt to re-ensoul Angel, c) Preventing O'Toole from blowing up the school and d) wiring the high school to blow up in order to destroy the Snake Mayor. Each time he tapped into the knowledge he wondered why his friends never clued in that there was something more going on with him than just blind luck or chance. In the end he figured that it was just a toned down version of Sunnydale Syndrome in that while the gang wasn't blind to the supernatural aspects of ol' Sunnyhell denial of other things outside the norm worked just fine for them. While a part of him would always chaf at the way they looked at him another was somewhat glad since it made it easier to covertly use Bond's skills to help out.

So in the end he figured that this was the way it'd always be, him supporting the gang from the shadows using his borrowed skills, but little did he know that by the end of graduating year events were taking shape that would pull him from the shadows forevermore.

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Secret Location, National Neutral Territory, One Week Prior to Graduation Day 

"Are you certain this can be verified?" asked M after being told news that hurt her more than she would ever admit or show physically to anyone.

"As much as can be considering the state of the room M. The amount of blood at the scene matches James' in every way measurable with only a slight difference most likely due to the… questionable cleanliness of the room." Charles Robinson replied trying to deliver an efficient yet gentle response to his superior's question, "Considering the amount involved and the damage caused to the rest of the room it is unlikely Commander Bond survived."

"If I had a pound everytime someone counted Bond among the dead I'd have more money than the Treasury department." M said making it clear that unless they found a body that could be positively identified as belonging to double oh seven the search for the missing agent was to continue, "Have our people continue to investigate this matter and to report any significant findings to me and **only** me."

"Of course." Robinson stated with a nod before leaving his place at his boss' side and leaving the room.

For a moment silence reigned in the room where the heads of quite possibly the most formidable Agencies and covert organizations in the world sat about a standard boardroom table. There was a growing crisis afoot and this latest news did not bode well for while few present could say that they approved of James Bond's methods none could dispute the results he was able to produce time and time again. To hear that he had been most likely killed within two weeks of starting the mission to uncover the perpetrators of this growing menace did not bode well at all. For the past six months there had been a growing rumor within the underground of the various criminal underworlds of a new force beginning to take shape. A dark shape that employed unusual operatives and whose leader had never been seen nor any proof discovered his or her existence even found. However there could be no disputing that all crimes tied to this new force were linked and proceeding according to some unknown but large scale plan. So far every Agency in the world, both known to the public and some not known, had tried at one time or another to infiltrate this growing organization but without success. Most agents wound up dead whereas the others came back broken and muttering nonsense about 'demons' and 'magic' and the like. For the most part these ramblings were not taken seriously despite the fact that each agency knew there existed several odd species that most certainly were not normal. To the majority of the agents and their leaders to even consider believing in the superstitions and myths of old was to already concede a major advantage to the enemy and that could not be allowed. So instead they operated under the premise that these 'unusual' operatives were the result of flawed genetic experiments intended to create a superior form of soldier.

No matter what the explanation for the dark organization's hiring practices the fact remained that it was growing bigger and stronger with every passing week. Something had to be done before it became too powerful to deal with by any force be it covert in nature or publicly known.

"I'm sorry for your loss M but we must remain focused on the task at hand." Said Mr. Johnson comfortingly and who was the head of the covert strike force known as Impossible Missions Force, "There will be time enough to mourn the dead after we have successfully managed to curtail whatever this First Organization is planning."

"While I would like to point out that there is no conclusive evidence to support the position that Commander Bond is dead I agree that we must press on regardless." M stated making it clear that the subject of double oh seven was **NOT** to be brought up again, "You all know the situation and what is at stake. Any suggestions on how to handle this situation?"

"Unfortunately M there seems to be precious little we can do at the moment." Came the voice of a man identified only as Charlie from the intercom speaker, "The majority of our operatives that could handle a mission of this caliber are either dead, currently on an assignment just as important as this or are simply too past their prime to handle certain 'aspects' of the situation."

Most of the room nodded reluctantly in admittance of this fact since each of them were low on acceptable agents to assign to this job.

"There must be someone working for one of us that can handle something this important." Growled an African American man designated Father, "What about you Abbott? Don't you have one of your 'special' agents that you can send on this mission?"

"If by 'agent' you are referring to the Treadstone experiment I am afraid you are mistaken if you think I have any such operatives at my command." Deputy director Ward Abbott of the C.I.A replied with perfect innnocence in his voice, "As I stated before the Committee Treadstone was nothing more than an exercise that was terminated when it was deemed to be a waste of resources."

"Oh come on! That line might work in front of the Committee Ward but everyone here at this table knows the truth about the Treadstone prject!" Father yelled almost upset enoug to get out of his seat in order to accuse Abbott better.

"Indeed we do. However the fact remains that we have a problem on our hands that is only going to get worse the more time we waste. Put whatever issues you have with each other aside gentlemen and **try** to focus on the task at hand." Spoke a woman who went by the alias Betty Director and was head of the organization known as Global Justice, "Regardless of what some may think it is a fact that the majority of the agents we might send on this mission are either occupied, dead or otherwise unavailable. We need to come up with an alternative plan and we need to do it NOW!"

"I believe the situation may be even worse than it appears." Says the man named Augustus Gibbons representing the NSA who looked as though there was something else they had to be concerned about.

"What do you mean Agent Gibbons?" M asked voicing the question that many of the other people at the table were no doubt thinking.

Getting up from his chair Augustus began to walk towards the other side of the room where displayed on multiple screens were the faces of both rumored members of the First Organization and the agents that had been sent to infiltrate only to wind up dead or wishing they were dead. For a moment he looked to have forgotten that there were other people in the room before turning around and looking at the assembled group with the most serious look imaginable on his face.

"I believe we may have a mole amongst us." Gibbons replied allowing that response to explain everything.

It was no surprise than no sooner did Gibbons finish his statement then just about everyone in the room leapt to their feet and began either flinging accusations or defending themselves. Only M remained in her seat composed and with a partially inquisitive look on her face as her reaction to the NSA agent's theory. In her mind she would wait until the rest of her colleagues calmed down and then ask Mr. Gibbons to explain himself. It took three minutes of yelling and recriminations before she decided that if any order was to be restored she'd have to be the one to do it. Reaching over she picked up the pitcher of water she picked it up and without warning threw it down on the floor with a resounding smash that stopped the arguing in its tracks. Once she was certain she had everyone's attention she sat back down into her chair and motioned for the others to do the same using the patented female 'behave yourselves or else' look. Reluctantly those that had been yelling at each other moments ago sat back down and waited for the next move to be made.

"Would you care to elaborate on your rather surprising opinion Agent Gibbons?" she asked hoping that once the man explained everything any further uproar could be avoided.

"Consider that almost from the moment we first learned of the First Organization we have been sending top agents to either apprehend or infiltrate it with no success. These agents have come from wide and varying backgrounds with no two of them sharing that many common skills or abilities. They have been sent in with some of the best equipment we can provide and still they have either been killed or sent back to us in dire need of professional therapy."Gibbons replied as he used a remote that they had all been given in order to present what new information they had each uncovered, "The question we must ask ourselves is simply: how is this possible? Are they simply that powerful that they can thwart any action we take against them? Or have they been so successful because someone here has been informing them of our plans beforehand?"

With that explanation each member of this council had to look at one another in a new light and wonder if Augustus Gibbons might be correct. Indeed the lack of headway being made by their agents against this evil enterprising group had been shocking with little in the way of clues to explain why. In the end the most of them had simply chosen to believe that this organization was simply that good and that that was all there was too it. However now looking at it from the NSA representative's point of view all of them had to admit that the possibility did exist that someone might be feeding insider information to the enemy. None of them wanted to admit that one of them, people who had spent the better part of their lives in the service of their repsective countries if not the entire human race, could be a traitor. However taking in the information before them it would at least have to be factored into the equation of any future plans.

"I assume that because you came up with this theory that you have also formulated a way to overcome this obstacle Agent Gibbons?" asked Mr. Jerry Lewis head of W.O.O.H.P (World Organization Of Human Protection) with a contemplative look on his face.

"Yes. We must disband this Council immediately and attempt to formulate plans against the First Organization on our own." Gibbons replied with the utmost sincerity in his voice.

"Are you mad!?" exclaimed Mr. Johnson as though he could scarcely believe what he was hearing.

"You're the traitor!" accused Father pointing a finger at Gibbons as though to emphasize his point, "Disbanding this council would be the same as handing victory to the enemy!"

"On the contrary sir disbanding this council and going our separate ways may be the only thing that could possibly let us win this battle." Augustus stated calmly amidst the accusations, "With no feasible way to truly determine who the traitor in our midst there would be no way to determine who the enemy agent is and therefore any plans we made after disposing of who the majority of us believe to be the informant could still percievably fall into the hands of the enemy. Only by separating and acting on our own can we render the usefullness of this mole null and void. We can leave it up to whomever we individually assign to the mission to work amongst themselves in the hopes that the First Organization's reach does not extend that far down the chain of command."

Once again none could argue with the logic that the NSA agent was putting forth and one by one they reluctantly nodded showing their acceptance of this course of action. Each of them to one degree or another believed in the philosophy of two heads being better than one but in this case splitting up the group might be the right thing to do. With no way to figure out who among them had sided with the enemy maintaining this council would only hurt them more if they continued with it. By going their separate ways they at least divided the enemy's forces amongst them and that hopefully would provide them with a fighting chance.

"Then it is decided?" M asked wanting to put spoken words to the decision she knew they all must have reached.

"Yes. This council his hearby disbanded until further notice." Mr. Johnson said as he picked up his briefcase and stood up, "Good hunting all of you."

With that the man in charge of the IMF left the room and one by one each representative did the same wishing their comrades well or at the very least giving polite warnings to stay out of the way of the 'professionals'. In the end only Gibbons and M remained in the room and just as she was about to leave Augustus grabbed her hand and said 'stay a moment' with his stare. Deciding to see what other pearls of wisdom the man from the NSA had to offer she curbed her tongue until just after the door to the room closed before she decided to let the man know exactly how she felt about being manhandled.

"You have one minute to explain yourself before I have you thrown in the deepest pit I can find and consequences be damned!" she said sharply making it clear she meant every last word.

"I thought I'd do you a favor by informing you that I may have found a suitable substitute for your missing double oh agent. One that could possibly succeed where Commander Bond failed on this mission." Gibbons replied before going silent to see how his British comrade reacted to his words.

"I'm listening." M stated doing her best not to let her piqued interest show on her face.

"A little over a year ago one of my people in southern California, just a few hours away from Los Angeles happened to witness a most unusual theft of military weaponry from an army base on the outskirts of a small town called Sunnydale." Gibbons replied taking on the tone of a storyteller rather than a debriefing agent, "What made this unusual wasn't the theft but rather the people who were pulling it off in the first place."

Retrieving a single disk from his jacket pocket he slid it into a player below one of the main screens. It took a moment but eventually four pictures that looked like they belonged in a high school yearbook popped up highlighting four teens, two boys and two girls, none of the immediately recognisable to the head of MI6.

"The brunette girl on the upper left is Cordelia Ethel Chase, daughter of a prominent member of a law firm based out of San Francisco, and by all accounts your typical spoiled rich girl. However our profilers believe that this is more a mask she wears in order to protect her true self from the rest of the world." Gibbons said as he used the remote he held to highlight the Queen of Sunnydale High, "Next is Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne, a remarkably short spoken young man, who possesses a surprisingly keen intellect despite his every changing hair color and position in a band called 'Dingoes ate my Baby'. At the moment he is being scouted by no less than ten separate software companies and three recording studios."

"Next we come to Willow Rosenberg who surprisingly enough seems to be a veritable prodigy with perfect marks in almost every class except gym. Personally I'm hoping that one of the NSA recruiters manages to sign her because I know for a fact that several other agencies have their eyes on her as well." Augustus said taking a moment to pause as he saw that he was beginning to lose his audience.

"I would hope that this last youth is the point of your little presentation otherwise I am going to be **most** disappointed." M stated impartially but with eyes implying that her patience and Gibbons' time were almost up.

"Indeed. Take a look at this security feed from one of the cameras on the base that I had my specialists enhance." Gibbons said pointing and clicking the remote at the screen.

The photographs of the four teens vanished to reveal your standard security camera with time stamp and date located in the appropriate corners. The image on the screen was that of the front of what looked like to be a supply building or more likely since Gibbons mentioned it the base's armory. For about ten seconds there was nothing but then she spotted two figures skulking towards the entrance to building but being careful to keep out of sight. When they entered the light he could see that one was Ms. Chase whereas the other was the final mystery member of the quartet and both obviously believed the coast to be clear. This was proven to be incorrect less than ten seconds later when a guard approached them and while there was no sound it was obvious that he was demanding to know what the two teenagers were up to in front of the armory.

"The young man you see is Alexander LaVelle Harris. A friend of Ms. Rosenberg's since pre-school and a recent acquaintence of Mr. Osbourne's." Gibbons explained as events unfolded on the screen, "Not a stellar student overall but about four months before this footage was recorded his grades began to show a noticeable improvement. Here in this footage though he showed knowledge of military protocol and regulations as well as a bearing you might recognise."

At that moment the scene paused, rewound and then began again except this time the images were strictly that of Mr. Harris with obvious signs of enlargement and enhancement procedures. Watching the young man move there was something about it that struck her as familiar but no matter how closely she scrutinized the images being played out in front of her the vital clue remained outside her reach.

"I can see that you need a little more to put the pieces together." Agent Gibbons said with a small smile, "Keep watching but pay special attention to Mr. Harris' hands."

Doing as instructed M kept close watch on Alexander's movements with special scrutiny being placed on his hands. It was not until the boy began to go to work on the locks and security keypad keeping the door secure that she spotted the one element that had kept the point Gibbons had been trying to point out from bringing it all together in her mind.

"That's…!" she exclaimed unable to complete her sentence out of shock as her mind tried to figure out how a Californian American teenager could know skills only those working for MI6 were taught.

"Yes it is. It's what first tipped me off that there might be more going on in Sunnydale than originally thought. Intrigued by the possibility of a future operative I assigned a surveillance team to keep tabs on Mr. Harris and his friends with orders to report all their findings **directly** to me." Gibbons said as he clicked the remote again and this time five separate video feeds popped into existence, "What I found over the coming months was that without us being aware of it a team of high school students and one British librarian were single handedly saving the world from threats quite similar to the 'failed genetically engineered soldiers' employed by the First Organization. More importantly though was the fact that at several key moments Mr. Harris exhibited skills that were impossible for one his age and education to know through natural means."

"This led to a bit of reverse investigating in which we backtracked Mr. Harris' abnormal spurts of covert knowledge and tactics until we perceived we had found the point zero of it all. Surprisingly enough it all apparently began on Halloween about a year and a half ago at a costume shop being run by one Ethan Rayne." Gibbons explained his small smile growing into a slightly larger one as he saw recognition play across the features of M, "Yes the same Mr. Rayne connected to half a dozen different incidents that were thought to be the work of the First Organization only to be mere pranks for Ethan's amusement. Apparently that Halloween in Sunnydale the man planned to pull off something rather spectacular involving the costumes he was renting or selling to his customers."

"While the how of the matter is still somewhat unknown it was believed that for a few hours that night, by means of magic, everyone who wore a costume from Ethan's shop turned into what they were dressed up as including Mr. Harris." Gibbons explained as he used the remote to begin a slideshow of Ethan Rayne and what evidence could be recovered from that night.

"Magic?" M asked as though she wanted to believe she had misheard the man even when she knew her hearing was perfectly alright according to her most recent physical.

"You heard me correctly M. While the others might be willing to discard the various signs of paranormal and supernatural properties present in several of the First Organization's crimes I am not. Since I first became aware that there might be something more out there than one might think I have made it a 'hobby' of mine to separate fact from fiction among the various sources of information on the paranormal and supernatural." Gibbons said trying to gain at least an open minded listener out of M, "But we are deviating from what I wanted to show you. So for one night the people who procured costumes from Rayne's shop became what they dressed up as and roamed the streets of Sunnydale. In the case of Mr. Harris though he went as someone real rather than someone fictional like the other trick or treaters did that night."

Gibbons then tapped a button on the remote in his hand and a picture of a tuxedo appeared on the screen apparently taken in someone's basement apartment.

"While Alexander was at school one of my men snuck into his room and attempted to locate the costume that young Harris wore Halloween night. It was hidden very well but my man eventually found it along with a toy version of a Walther P99 complete with shoulder harness and holster." Gibbons said and took special delight when the light that came from connecting numerous dots to form one picture appeared on M's face.

"That suit belonged to James?" she asked sounding remarkably calm given the circumstances.

"Yes. Judging from the labels on it, the few less than perfect replicas of Q Branch's devices and the results from tests done on the fibers we believe it must have been acquired sometime just before Commander Bond dealth with Mr. Trevelyan. Thanks to this suit though for that Halloween night Alexander Harris became double oh seven." Gibbons replied before using the remote to turn off the screens, "Based on this information I believe that Harris has somehow inherited much of Commander Bond's knowledge and abilities. How much exactly I can't be sure but considering what he does possess I believe it presents a rather unique opportunity for us. After all who would know to expect a teenager with the accumulated knowledge and experience of oen of MI6s best agents?"

"You can't be serious! He's just a boy and regardless of whatever knowledge he may have retained from his night as Bond that does not make him as good as Bond." M exclaimed appalled at the idea of sending a young man like Mr. Harris on a mission that had claimed so many lives already.

"Perhaps but he also possesses knowledge that the other agents assigned to this mission did not. That combined with double oh seven's skills might be just the combination needed to make some headway against the First organization." Gibbons stated to counter M's own opinion.

M said nothing to this and that was enough for Gibbons to at least give the proposal he hoped would end up sealing the deal so to speak.

"I've arranged for a small demonstration of the boy's skills and abilities. According to my sources in Sunnydale the kid is planning on going on the traditional cross-country roadtrip in about two weeks. After running a psychological profile on him as well as reviewing what we have on Bond we believe we know the route he'll take out of town." Gibbons said tucking the remote into his pocket, "Would you be interested in being there?"

"Where will the 'demonstration' take place?" M asked deciding that the least she could do was see up close and in person whether or not this Alexnader Harris really did possess the abilities and characteristics of James Bond.

"Oxnard."

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Oxnard, California, Two Weeks Later, Early Evening 

_It's a great day to be alive!_ Xander thought to himself as he walked down the streets of Oxnard.

It had only been a day or two since he'd left Sunnydale on his trip to across the United States for the cliched roadtrip most teenage males take after graduating from high school but it felt great to be away from the people who 'knew' him. Since the day after Halloween it had been more and more suffocating to suppress all the things he had inherited from James Bond so that no one who looked at him would see anything different. He hadn't thought much of it at first, thinking it would be easy to just stick to the same old routine but as the weeks went by he had more close calls with his Bond moments than he thought he would. After one particularly close call when Kendra first came to town he had ruthlessly done everything he could to keep the spy's characterisitcs in check. While this had done its job of keeping the others from suspecting that he might have retained more than a few snippets of information there were times when he had a feeling they suspected more might be going on. There had been a few instances, not the least of which was the theft of the rocket launcher, when he had been forced to tap into double oh seven's skills in order to ensure that the demon of the day or the Warlock of the week didn't succeed in whatever scheme was being put into action. After those incidents all of the gang had in one way or another asked him how he knew what he knew and was able to do what he did. He just gave them either the 'my body moved by itself' excuse or the 'I only remember bits and pieces with the rest coming from research' excuse to explain his bits of never before seen prowess. Fortunately the gang must have contracted a weak strain of the ol' Sunnydale Denial Syndrome because they bought those lines every single time. Just like Giles had mentioned once, people see what they want to see, so it was with the rest of the Scooby gang where he was concerned. They wanted to see their lovable, loyal Xander who while perfect for morale support was a little more than lacking in the area of fighting. While it annoyed him a bit that they thought he would never be anything more than that it proved useful at times so he let them think what they would.

_Now that I don't have to pretend anymore it feels __**great!**_He thought with the burden of pretending no longer on his shoulders.

Now that he was away from anyone who knew him he could finally let it all show and not have to worry about news of his retained skills getting to the wrong people. Oh he'd have to keep the more combat oriented skills on constant watch so he didn't accidently hurt or kill anyone but the rest of it could be given more or less free reign. One of the first things he'd done was improve his wardrobe since with a bit of James Bond in him now the Hawaiin shirts he had worn back in Sunnyhell were just a **little** too bright. Dressed now in tan cargo pants and casual dark short-sleeved dress shirt with a pair of Nike's on he felt quite comfortable with how he looked. Judging from some of the looks he was receiving from the women he passed by they thought he looked quite **good** as well. That met with mixed reactions from him with the Bond part of him wanting to flirt back while the Xander part of him was uncertain how to handle being found attractive to ladies. With such opposites present in one body he had chosen to settle for simply giving them a charming smile before continuing on his way.

Taking in all there was to see he soaked in the newness of it all, the not Sunnydale-ness of it all, hoping that for the duration of his roadtrip he didn't encounter anything more serious than the odd vampire that needed staking. Unlike Buffy and Willow he was smart enough to realise that the Hellmouth wasn't the only place where demons liked to party. He didn't really expect to be able to go his entire trip without doing any slayage but he hoped that Fate and the Almighty would at least do him a favor and keep it to a minimum.

It was as he was passing a strip club called 'The Fabulous Ladies Night Club' he cursed himself for being so stupid by wishing for such things. Right before his eyes, being dragged down an alleyway by four thugs, were two women whom he presumed were employees at the strip club. Judging from the firm grip the guys had on their arms and the way they were struggling to get free it was a pretty safe bet in his mind that they weren't going of their own free will. For a moment he wanted nothing more than to just walk to the nearest phone and report what he'd seen to the local police but his long years of dealing with the Sunnydale P.D made him pause. He knew that not all police departments had to be as crooked, cowardly or incompetant as the S.P.D back home but at the same time he also believed that even if he called immediately the cops might not get there in time to do more than find the bodies of the two ladies. So stuck between the choice of not getting involved and doing the right thing it was no real surprise to him when his damned White Knight tendencies teamed up with Bond's 'gentleman' qualities to make the choice for him.

Casually making his way across the street he slipped into the alley after the group and once clear of any pedestrians he pulled a stake and a little something from his pockets. That was another thing that he'd gained more from Bond than from the advice of Giles and Buffy. Ever since Halloween he made sure he never went anywhere without the bare necessities for dealing with the demonic and supernatural. Whether it was day or night he made sure that he had at least a stake and a cross with him with the odd bottle of holy water thrown in when he thought he might need something with a little more spray to it. Fortunately he had all three on him at the moment along with a little something he'd come up with from one of the do-hickey's he'd seen in Bond's memories. It was crude and no doubt Q could do better but considering he was just a high school student with limited funds available he was quite proud of what he'd managed. True it had made quite a mess in his room until he'd gotten all the kinks worked out but he'd field tested it about a week before graduation and it had gone off just like he'd planned.

Of course he'd been hiding on top of a mausoleum waitint for a vamp to come out and dropped it on the undead guy's head but he was fairly confident it'd work out in live combat conditions.

Mostly.

"Please! Let us go! You can take all the money we have!" screamed a woman's voice who clearly was frightened out of her wits.

"Oh don't lady! We'll take the money alright… right after we take everything else including your life!" said a man that was most certainly a vamp given how corny the line was as far as quips went.

_Can't these guys come up with __**ANY**__ original material?_ He thought as he peeked around the corner to get the lay of the land as well as the positions of the various people and things, _I must have heard that at least twenty times from vamps this year alone._

From what he could see both of the women had a vamp restraining them from behind while the others were arrayed in a semi-circle in front of them. Not the most likable position from his point of view considering that even if he tossed his little surprise at them the vamps restraining the girls would have just enough time to kill the women before he managed to close the distance. Somehow he had to get them to abandon the restraining of the girls just long enough for him to give them their present.

Time to give the ol' piss-them-off-until-they-come-after-you strategy a try. He thought as he stood up and put both hands behind his back. Walking around the corner he waited until one of the vamps spotted him before going into his routine that he'd perfected on Deadboy but with a little more bite to it.

"Now **that** has got to be the lamest line I've ever heard!" he said like someone lodging a complaint with a restaurant in front of many witnesses, "I mean do you guys even bother to give your material a run through before you use it on people 'cause a little rehearsing **wouldn't** hurt."

By this time every vamp in the alley was looking at him and his comment had achieved the affect of pissing off the vamp that had spoken it which was some vamp that looked like an extra from Mad Max. Now he just had to get the two holding the girls equally pissed or even more so if that's what it took to get them to toss their captives aside to come after him.

"Not that I can really blame you for coming up with such derivative stuff with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb back there as pals." He said sounding like he was talking about spineless lackeys that kissed ass so much it was pathetic, "It's obvious that they do all their thinking with their little heads rather than the one they have on their shoulders. Maybe you should cut their little rods off? At least then you'd get the blood flowing to where it's needed."

He smiled on the inside when he the two holding the girl's growled angrily and looked like the only thing keeping them from abandoning guard duty was facing the wrath of their leader for letting the catch of the day get away. Fortunately guy vamps were a lot like jocks in that if you insult their manhood enough they suddenly become the I.Q equivalent of a rock. Fortunately he had just the quip to send them over the edge and put his plan into action.

"Who the fuck do you think you are meatbag!?" yelled the Mad Max reject who looked to be only slightly better at controlling his temper than those holding the women, "The fricken' dialogue police!?"

"You should count yourself fortunate that I'm not because if I were you'd be looking at life without parole for lines like that. I mean come on, swearing to cover up bad lines, now that is the last resort of the truly desperate!" he said arming his little surprise in his left hand, "Maybe you and your two bedmates back there should spend some quality time together and come up with something that at least **sounds** clever. What do you think?"

Now **THAT** put them over the edge in a big way as both of the goons holding the women tossed them into the nearest wall before striding angrily forward with the Mad Max reject leading the charge. Still he held his ground and held his fire wanting to wait until his targets had reached optimum range before unleashing his little surprise at them. Feeling his heart beating faster and the tension rise within him it took no little bit of effort to wait while four vamps advanced on his position. However as they reached what he deemed the point of no return he couldn't help but smile at what was about to happen to these walking corpses.

"You ain't gonna be smiling for much longer shithead!" growled the lead vamp as his posse followed behind him.

"Oh really?" he asked before quickly pulling his left hand from behind his back and threw his little surprise at the oncoming vampires, "Maybe a wiff of this might put a smile on your face?"

His surprise turned out to be two containers taped together and each filled with an unusual liquid one of which appeared to be water.

Which it was of course but water that had been blessed by a priest prior to his departure from Sunnydale a few days ago. However it was what was in the other container that would really allow for maximum damage to be inflicted on the oncoming vamps. By itself it was relatively harmless but when mixed with water it would cause the liquid to turn immediately into vapor and cause it to expand in every direction.

He'd come across it during one of the research sessions with the gang while they weren't paying attention to him. He had originally been intended it to be used on the local sewer system since he figured if he convinced a priest to bless the largest convergences of sewage in the city he could literally flood the system with holy sewage mist. Basically turning the regular shit that flowed through there into holy shit (if you'll pardon the pun) taking a large chunk out of the demons that dwelled there that had a vulnerability to holy water or other blessed substances. Unfortunately that idea was scrubbed when he found out that due to the fact that the city sat on a Hellmouth and long-term residency of demons in the sewer system any attempt to bless the refuse flowing underneath the city would be useless.

In this case though the amount of water was small enough that the blessing of the priest would stick and when combined with the liquid in the other container it would create a holy water mist that would cover everything within five feet of detonation. He knew there was a specific name for the liquid that was the key to the device but he was never able to remember its complicated name. All he knew was the letter number combination on the bottle it came in and what to show the local retailer when he wanted to buy some himself. He'd stockpiled a fair bit at the moment but had decided to wait until he got back from his roadtrip before mass producing his 'breath of God' or B.G bombs and showing them to the G-Man.

Watching as the taped bottles shattered on the chest of the lead vamp he couldn't help but smile smugly as in the blink of an eye the vamps were stuck in the middle of a cloud of mist. Almost immediately he heard the vamps screaming in pain as the holy properties of the mist reacted with their unholy bodies much the same way an acid shower would on a human being. Knowing that the mist would only be around for a few seconds before dispersing he charged into the cloud and began staking vamps left and right the moment he got a clear enough shot at their hearts. One of them managed to stomach the pain of the holy water mist and take a swing at him but a dodge, an armlock and a leg sweep later had the vamp flat on his back. One quick stab later and the bloodsucker was dust leaving only one vamp to dust before he could call it a day and get the ladies to someplace safe.

However it was then that something unexpected happened when suddenly a gunshot rang out in the alleyway and clipped him slightly in the right shoulder. Looking in the direction he believed the shot had come from he spotted something he thought he'd never have to face.

A vamp with a 9mm pistol in its hands getting ready to blow the Xan-Man's brains out.

Doing the only thing he could think of he grabbed the last vamp of the four that had originally dragged the girls down the alleyway and held him firmly in front of himself to use as a shield. He could feel his unwilling 'protection' struggling to get free but thankfully exposure to the holy water mist had weakened him significantly. That and the fact that the vamp with the gun was shooting him full of holes trying to get to the Key Guy of the graduation ceremony kept his new 'friend' from freeing himself.

"Take cover behind those dumpsters!" he yelled at the young women who were almost completely recovered from their rough introduction to the brick walls.

Fear of getting shot proved to be a great motivator and thankfully cut any protest at being ordered around short. Both the African American lady and the outdoorsy looking brunette caucasion woman took cover behind the blue dumpster with their hands covering their heads. Now that he had some time to look at them he found that they were quite a bit older than he had originally thought they were, which had been between twenty and twenty-five, being closer to Ms. Calendar's age than his. Still they were absolute knockouts and besides which they were the victims in all this so it didn't really matter how old they were.

A moment later there was a pause in the firing of the pistol and he knew that he had to take this chance while the vamp was busy reloading to act. Throwing the vamp into the dumpster the ladies were hiding behind he grabbed a hold of the sides and began to push it so that its front was facing the gun wielding vamp. Now would come the hard part since he'd need help if he was going to get it moving as fast as it would need to go.

"I need your help ladies! Get next to me and push this thing like your lives depended on it!" he said never once stopping pushing the dumpster with his own body, "Hurry!"

While there was some hesitance on the part of the two ladies it only took a second or two for them to lend their strength to his. Like a train the waste receptical began to move towards the gun wielding vamp gathering speed with every moment until he and the girls were almost running to keep up with the blue box of metal. He knew that this alone would at best distract the vamp since while moving fast it would not be beyond the demon's ability to evade. Reaching down with his right hand he searched his pockets hoping that he'd remembered to bring an extra bottle of holy water. It took a few stressful minutes of fumbling but eventually his fingers wrapped around a comforting glass bottle and he smiled triumphantly. Releasing the dumpster he took a step back, thankfully the ladies followed suit, and the three of them watched as the metal construct rocketed towards the vamp. Waiting until he was certain he quickly charged to the right when he spotted the vampire heading that way to evade the dumptster. The second that the demon cleared the dumpster he threw the bottle of holy water as hard as he could and like a guided missile it flew through the air before smashing open on the vamp's face.

"Arrrgghhhh!!!" the vamp screamed in pain reflexively dropping the gun it had been holding to grab its face.

Wasting no time he charged the demon as fast as he could and just as the vampire was beginning to lower its hands he drove the stake home into the demon's heart. With a familiar poof and gust of air the vamp turned to ash like the others had which left only the one in the dumpster that was likely regenerating from the gunshot wounds at that very moment. While it might be the smart thing to finish off the vamp first before leaving he was already beginning to feel a bit lightheaded from blood loss and decided that getting the two ladies to safety took priority.

"Well ladies I hope you've enjoyed this little display because I think it's time to leave." He said not noticing the slightly British lilt his voice had taken on, "Do either one of you have a house or apartment nearby?"

He knew that the club would not make a good sanctuary against vamps because it was a public place and while he didn't think the last vamp would come after them he hadn't expected that last vamp to have a gun much less use it. He'd feel a lot safer once they were inside a home where the invitation clause would work since it would at the very least limit what any vampires could do to them.

"Y-yeah!" replied the brunette who looked to be about five steps away from going into shock, "My a-apartment is about ten blocks from here."

"Then let's get going. We'll be safe from these guys once we get inside." He said gesturing with his arm towards the entrance of the alleyway.

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A Secure Room Nearbye, Same Time 

"So what do you think M?" Gibbons asked the head of MI6 as they watched Harris and the two agents they had posing as civilians walk out of the alley from numerous angles thanks to cameras hidden in the alley.

"He's resourceful I'll give him that but I am still not entirely convinced that he is capable of carrying out this mission." M said trying to downplay how much Alexander's performance had impressed her.

"He is rough around the edges and not at all like any agent you have working for you currently but I believe that that can be a good thing in this case. It means it will be harder for his enemies to predict what he'll do next." Augustus said turning away from the numerous screens as Harris left the range of the cameras, "It's one of the reasons I choose my Triple Xs the way I do. Government agencies have been training their operatives the same way for so long their enemies have begun to use this to their advantage. Besides I'm sure that with a little help from your man Q and perhaps a month of intense training to sharpen him up a bit Harris will be the perfect man for the job."

"If he's such a promising recruit then why bring him to my attention?" M asked deciding to voice the real reason she was hesitant to accept Gibbons' gift, "Why not recruit him yourself?"

"I haven't recruited him because I believe that someone in the NSA may be working for the First Organization. After I first began to suspect that someone was feeding information to the enemy I conducted an independent investigation into my own people to see if it was one of them." Gibbons replied with a look on his face that hinted he was troubled by what he had found, "While I wasn't able to come up with any concrete proof there was enough suspicious data to discourage me from drafting Mr. Harris. If he's capable of half of what I think he is he has to be free to do what he thinks is necessary to accomplish the mission. He can't do that if my own people are sabotaging him every step of the way."

"And what makes you think that my people are any more trustworthy?" M asked looking troubled herself at the idea of members of the NSA working for the First Organization.

"I don't but they're all familiar with Bond so both consciously as well as unconsciously they'll assume that Harris will act like double oh seven. They'll take things for granted and make more assumptions about him and this will cause them to make mistakes which Alexander can exploit." Gibbons responded bluntly but respectfully, "Besides it's only fitting that someone with the memories of Commander Bond be recruited by James' boss. Harris will recognise you from the memories he inherited on Halloween making it much easier to recruit him than some scarfaced stranger like me."

M considered his words, examined them thoroughly for any flaw that would give her ground to refuse what was being offered, but in the end she could do nothing but acknowledge Gibbons' logic.

"Very well. Once he's finished escorting your agents to their home I'll make contact and proceed to brief him on the situation." M stated professionally as she settled into her authoritative role, "If after that he is willing to assist he will be transported back to England where he'll undergo the training you recommended before being deployed."

"Of course. Now if you'll excuse me I have to check in with my people and see if the team I sent to recover my latest Triple X from Bora Bora was successful." Gibbons said before politely nodding his head at M and walking away.

With that the wheels of Fate were set in motion and the world of one Californian teenager would never be the same.

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Pilar's Café Oxnard, The Next Day, Late Morning 

M wasn't sure **why** she was surprised that Mr. Harris was late for the agreed upon meeting time and place. If he had inherited as much of double oh seven as Agent Gibbons claimed, then it was perfectly on par with Commander Bond's usual behavior. She just hoped that that was the **only** negative trait that Harris had inherited from her best agent, otherwise she'd be tempted to leave and disavow knowledge of this meeting at once. After all, one outdated chauvinistic dinosaur named James Bond was quite enough for her and the idea of a younger 'protégé' existing was enough to give her a migraine.

"Here he comes, M," came the voice of the one subordinate she trusted enough to bring on the trip with her and was certain he was not a spy of the First Organization.

Five seconds later a shadow passed over her and she decided it was time to get this meeting off on the right foot by making it clear who was in charge and what would not be tolerated, "You're late Mr. Harris. Unless I am very much mistaken, which I know I am not, you agreed to meet with me forty-five minutes ago. Explain yourself." She demanded in a tone that most would imagine their employer or a Supreme Court judge.

"Sorry M. Agent Jinx and Agent Nightshade were quite… **thorough** in their briefing last night and I am afraid we were up most of the night." Harris stated as he sat down in a chair opposite her, "It took them awhile but eventually I got a **feel** for the situation."

_I hate it when I am right!_ She thought to herself as her prediction concerning both what Bond traits the young man had inherited and the migraine that was beginning to form in her head.

"Well then, if you are **quite** finished making use of Commander Bond's less complimentary traits, let's get down to business shall we." She said, eager to move along to something more important than the potential fallout from Agent Gibbons in the future, "I presume they informed you as to the nature of the current dilemma?"

"Yeah, something about a First Organization managing to pine box or strait jacket every agent you sent after it." He replied before being momentarily distracted by a passing young female waitress, "However they weren't **able** to reveal all the details during our little meeting. I guess that's where you come in?"

"Quite." She said before reaching into a satchel leaning against her chair and removed a file folder, "For the past seven months there has been a growing presence in the criminal underworld's of virtually every major nation on Earth. Groups once viciously opposed to one another are now working together while other criminal elements have undergone sudden changes in leadership. It wasn't until the bomber responsible for the destruction of a major military R&D facility surfaced that we managed to catch our first real break in the matter."

Putting the file folder in front of Harris, she opened it up to reveal several different kinds of photos ranging from what were obviously autopsy photographs to pictures taken most likely by a surveillance team. While the story itself seemed to be enough to catch his interest, she could tell that when Harris looked at the picture of the bomber's face that he knew something more.

"While there has been an alternative theory as to the perpetrator's appearance, it is believed that the man was the result of a failed attempt to create enhanced soldiers by this manifesting alliance of evil." She explained, not willing to support Gibbons' scenario just yet, "From what we were able to discover from the items on his person and from his own statement just before committing suicide, this alliance is called 'The First Organization'. Whether that name means something more we haven't been able to deduce. All we know for certain is that with every criminal organization or mercenary group it absorbs into its collective this Organization is getting stronger."

"I assume that MI6 or other government agencies have tried to put a stop to this?" Harris asked as if he already knew the answer.

"Yes, but each attempt to either apprehend or infiltrate the Organization has met with disastrous failure and the assigned agent either killed or returned to us a psychological mess." She replied, making her displeasure at this lack of progress known, "The last person to be sent to deal with them was Commander James Bond, whom I'm sure you know would not have gone down easily."

This got a reaction out of the young man and, apparently, provided him with sufficient incentive to examine the pictures more closely than he had before. From that alone she knew that Alexander Harris would be unable to leave this alone and would likely do whatever she requested of him in order to either rescue Bond or avenge him. While it was nice that she wouldn't have to exert any pressure to get his co-operation, she would still make sure he was put through his paces once they were back in England. IF he managed to satisfy the instructors used by MI6 and managed to at least maintain a stalemate with another double oh agent, then she would assign him to the mission.

"Okay, so we got badness a brewin' and it's able to chew up and spit out just about everyone you send at it." Alexander stated once he was finished perusing the pictures, "Can I assume you're considering the possibility that you guys might have a traitor in your midst?"

"The possibility is being considered and the usual investigations are underway. It was because of this that you were recommended to me by an NSA agent who is aware of your nighttime 'activities' with your friends." M said, watching to see Harris' reaction to one of his secrets being known to someone outside his circle of friends, "With evidence to support that you have somehow inherited many of the skills a double oh agent is required to know, it was suggested that you might be of some use in dealing with the First Organization."

"While it's obviously a waste of time to try and play stupid with you, I don't think I'm good enough for a mission like this. The skills and memories I managed to keep from my night as Commander Bond are incomplete and I'm sure you agree that it would be quite a risk to undertake a mission without knowing what you need to know." Alexander stated, not quite rejecting the request for aid but not jumping for it either.

"Of course, which is why should you agree to my request you will be put through a series of tests in order to be sure that you **know** all you need to know for this mission. Unlike some agencies, I don't treat my people as expendable commodities unless it is for the greater good." M stated emphasizing the importance of Harris passing the tests before he was assigned to anything, "So, you have heard what the situation is Mr. Harris, what is your answer?"

For a moment, the fate of one American teenager and perhaps the world hung in the balance, but in the end his true nature meant there was only one answer he could give.

"When do we leave?" He asked before grinning at her in a way only Bond ever had.

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MI6 HQ, Sub-Level 13, One Month Later 

"Well, Sergeant? Did Mr. Harris manage to meet the required standards?" M asked the man she had assigned to oversee Alexander's testing.

Considering the state the man was in, one black eye and his left arm in a cast, she had a fairly good idea of how things had gone with Mr. Harris. However she wanted to hear the judgment of the man in front of her before she made the final decision about whether or not to deploy Xander.

"Well M, I'm not sure where you found this yank but I'd appreciate it next time if you'd give my men and I more warning next time you ask us to test an unknown like him." Sergeant Granger replied, wincing a little since talking only served to aggravate the black eye as well as the bruise beneath it, "He was rough starting out, but once he had time to adjust it was like he had done all of the exercises before. Where did you find this colonial? Some renegade NSA project?"

"Not quite, Sergeant. Suffice it to say that Mr. Harris and double oh seven have some similar experiences that they learned from." M replied, not willing to reveal the true source of Harris' abilities to anyone, "Based on his performances during the tests, do you believe he is qualified to take on a double oh mission?"

"Permission to speak frankly, M?" Sergeant Granger requested with a look that he needed to say something freely.

A nod was all he got in response but it was enough.

"It is my belief that we should enlist the boy in MI6 immediately before the yanks draft him. If he's this good right now, I shudder to think what he might become with some experience under his belt." Sergeant Granger stated with certainty, "In my expert opinion m'am, whoever you plan on sending him against will be waving a white flag by the time he is finished with them."

"Very well, Sergeant. Thank you for your time." M said accepting the man's appraisal of Alexander, "Now go take your sick leave and report back to duty as soon as you've mended. Dismissed."

"M'am!" Sergeant Granger stated with a crisp salute before he left as professionally as he could on crutches.

To say that M was impressed with Harris' performance in the tests and how he had managed to impress the Sergeant, she wondered if she really should consider making Alexander an official agent of MI6. Much like everyone else who first laid eyes on the young man, she hadn't truly expected Xander to do all that well in the tests. After all, the double oh agents were considered the cream of the crop at MI6 and many lesser agents spent years of their lives trying to earn the designation. Few were willing to bet on the boy managing to pass the tests at all, much less doing as well as he apparently had, but she imagined that right now Ms. Moneypenny was quite satisfied with her winnings from the unofficial betting pool. Just as Granger had reported to her, she had heard tales all month that Harris' performance had skyrocketed after only a few days. She had not observed the tests herself, preferring to get the opinion of someone who would not see Bond in the young man. She knew that no matter how much she might have tried had she watched one of the tests, she would almost certainly draw comparisons between him and double oh seven. At least with Granger running the exercises, she could be sure of an impartial appraisal of the teenager's abilities from which to make her choice on.

_It would seem that Agent Gibbons was correct in his appraisal of Mr. Harris as a successor to Bond._ She thought as she began walking towards the Men's changing room, where Alexander was currently changing out of his training gear, _And not a moment too late either._

For the last month reports had been coming in of numerous attempts by former members of the Intelligence Council to stem the progress of the First Organization and none of them were what she would call a resounding success. Betty Director of Global Justice had enlisted the services of one Kimberly Possible and her partner Ronald Stoppable (if those were even their true names) and while evidence suggested that a significant armory of the First Organization had been destroyed, Mr. Stoppable had been seriously wounded. Her sources in America were still attempting to learn of his condition but, given what information they had managed to gather so far, it did not look good for the young man. Charlie's team, which he laughingly dubbed his 'Angels', had met with slightly worse luck as two of their three woman team would be laid up in an undisclosed hospital for at least six months before being well enough to return to active duty. Intelligence on the operatives of the remaining members of the I.C were equally discouraging but still containing a sliver of hope within them. While virtually all of them suffered injuries, they were also successful in destroying or setting back numerous branches of the First Organization's alliance of evil. It wasn't great, but at least it was better than they had been doing previously when they attempted to pool their efforts as one unified body.

_Yet another theory Agent Gibbons was correct about. _M thought as she came to a stop outside the door to the men's locker room to wait for Mr. Harris to pass through it, _If anything more that he predicted proves true, I will have some of my unofficial sources begin to look into his activities._

While she was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, neither was she one to overlook the warning of being too, right often that came with in her line of work. While some might consider the accuracy of Agent Gibbons' predictions to be mere chance, she was thoughtful enough to consider that it might be something less benevolent. To go from repeated failures to gradual headway in a matter of weeks was suspicious and when added to the appearance of Alexander LaVelle Harris, it made her think. Was it truly good luck or were they merely being led to believe so by a darker hand? If her suspicions were true, then it would be up to her to conceive of a backup plan in case Xander proved to be unable to overcome the challenges that had brought so many agents low.

Hearing sounds of footsteps within, she quickly composed herself in the manner of a stern superior and a barely satisfied one as well. While internally she may have been impressed with Harris' test results, she was not about to let him know it, lest it give him a swelled head. Instead she would impress upon him that he would have to **earn** her respect through his progress in the field and, hopefully, that would be enough to keep him from turning into Commander Bond **completely**.

Emerging from the locker room dressed in a specially made suit that she had ordered to be made should he succeed in passing the tests. Seeing him now, she could almost say that she was looking at a young double oh seven before the years of service turned him into the man he had become… **was** that day. Hair cut in a style similar to Commander Bond's rather than the mess that most teenagers seemed to fall into sooner or later, she was certain now that this young man was the operative to send after the First Organization next. He had both the skills required to be a one man force for good and had an appearance that would cause everyone to underestimate him… at least everyone who did not really know him at all that was.

"It would appear, Mr. Harris, that you are something more than what I have come to expect of the American educational system and **if** Sergeant Granger's appraisal is correct, you should prove adequate in taking over the mission to stop the First Organization." She said, sounding as though she was skeptical of the accuracy of the reports she'd been handed, "Therefore you will report to Dr. Warmflash for a complete check up to ensure that you have suffered no lasting strain from the tests and then go to Q branch where you'll be outfitted for your mission."

"Of course, M. After all, a doctor a day keeps the reaper away." Harris stated with a completely professional face but she could see a familiar twinkle in his eyes.

"Do not expect to be able to **persuade** the good doctor to exaggerate your good health, Mr. Harris. I've reminded her in person what level of professionalism MI6 expects from those in its employ." She said, conveying the subtle hint that he was not to use Bond's less than desirable way with women to sway Dr. Warmflash.

"It hurts, M, that you think I'm just like any other teenage male when it comes to a beautiful woman." He said with mock sincerity, placing one hand over his heart, "Besides, I somehow doubt that I'm Ms. Warmflash's type so you don't have anything to worry about."

_I am sure that is exactly what the women thought before they met Bond face to face._ M thought as she walked away.

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Q-Branch, One Hour Later 

"Don't touch that!" Exclaimed an upset Brit voice that kept Xander from figuring out what the cigarette lighter in front of him could do.

He had only been in the room for about five minutes before his overactive imagination and healthy curiosity had him examining every object that caught his fancy, no matter how ordinary it looked. Ever since Halloween it had always been one of his secret wishes to visit the lab where Q invented and tested the various devices that James Bond used on his missions. While the part of him that he retained from Commander Bond considered it pretty much par for the course that the head of Q branch could come up with such devices, to Xander Harris it was all **extremely** cool. So far he had only been able to examine about a quarter of the room's contents and, thanks to the arrival of the man formerly known as R, it looked like he would have to wait to have a look at the other three quarters.

"Sorry but it's a little hard to tell the ordinary from the extraordinary in this place." He said, moving a safe distance away from the lighter just in case, "But I guess that's the whole point. Harris, Xander Harris."

"Yes, well, unless I tell you otherwise, I suggest you keep your hands to yourself." Q stated a bit uncertainly since he was unused to politeness or compliments from double oh agents and one in particular, "Now, if you'll follow me I'll show you what I've come up with for your mission Agent Mirror."

_Gotta remember to talk to M about that._ He thought not entirely lovin' the codename that the head of MI6 had given him for the duration of his time under her command.

"First the standard issue wristwatch, complete with explosive detonator, high intensity laser cutter and grappling hook with fifty feet of high-tensile micro-filament." Q explained before handing the watch that looked like a Rolex, "While not possessing any components not seen in previous models, it is the first to incorporate them all in one place. Keep in mind though that it just cleared the testing phase, so don't be surprised if a bug or two pop up."

"Don't worry! I won't get a scratch on it." He said, not liking the idea that his first piece of equipment came with a bug warning from the inventor.

"I certainly hope so. Double oh seven had the appalling tendency to return his equipment in pieces if he even bothered to return them at all." Q said, making it clear that it'd be a good thing to not copy James Bond, "Hopefully you'll show more respect to your tools than he did."

_If only he knew that James really did try more often than not to return the things he was given in one piece._ He thought as the gray haired man moved on to the next item, _Lady luck just kept tripping him up._

"Next the multi-function credit card lockpick." Q stated as he picked up what looked like a perfectly ordinary platinum credit card until the man pulled on the top, "It will open any door you come across and, as an added bonus, it will allow you to copy the clearance of any security card that you scan with this next piece of equipment."

Passing the card to him, Q walked along until he came to what looked like a common black leather wallet.

"Merely insert the card into the center pocket of the wallet, wait five seconds, then remove the card." Explained the proud sounding inventor, "Then place the multi-function credit card into the same pocket, wait five seconds, and you will then have the exact same security clearance as the owner of the card you scanned."

"I'm sure this card will open quite a few doors for me," Xander said, unable to keep himself from utilizing the famous Bond wit.

Q just gave him a look that obviously meant the man was worried he had spoken too soon when he thought Xander would be different from double oh seven, but went on, "A standard issue ultra-high frequency ring capable of shattering any known form of glass no matter how durable it's said to be." Q picked up an ordinary-looking golden ring with what look like three emerald slivers embedded in it before passing it to him.

"Lastly we come to the specially made items you somehow managed to convince M to have me create." Q said with some reluctance, as though he was almost embarrassed to have created in the first place, "A silver cross neckchain. Harmless looking on the outside but containing six pellets based on the crude design you provided when you arrived here."

"And the water in them has been blessed by an official priest?" Xander asked, wanting to make sure that detail had been seen too since otherwise the pellets would be useless.

"Yes, just as you **insisted**, although cannot fathom what good they will be unless you come up against some pagan cultists." Q said with annoyance before moving onto the next special item, "A roll of silver dollars. Apply pressure to the heads side and then you have five seconds before it detonates like a thermite grenade. Use them sparingly!"

"Of course! That makes perfect cents." He said implying the potential value to coin collectors.

"Finally the device that caused me the most trouble to create." He stated with a mix of animosity and satisfaction, "One dual alloy EM belt. Perfectly safe for use as an article of clothing but when removed and the buckle give a sharp pull, the micro electromagnetic generator causes the belt to become as rigid as a sword and as sharp as one as well. Keep in mind though that the micro EM generator has a limited capacity and will only keep the belt's rigidity for fifteen minutes before it needs to be recharged."

"I'll be sure to use every minute of it well." He said, liking the idea of having a sword that could pop up at any time.

"Another one. Perfect." Q muttered, shaking his head as he walked towards the garage area of the lab.

"What?" He asked, sounding perfectly innocent even though he knew exactly why the elderly man was shaking his head.

"Where Commander Bond failed to destroy the world, we can trust a Yank to succeed." Q replied, making it clear that he predicted much destruction and chaos in the Xan-Man's future.

"Oh, come now, Q, you know the old saying - if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." He said this time not being able to keep the trickster smile from his face.

"Oh grow up, Agent Mirror!" Q said as they finally came to what the only son of Tony Harris (thank you GOD!) could only describe as beautiful.

"Here is your transportation. The Aston Martin V12 _Vanquish,_ equipped with headlight rockets, hood mounted machine guns with tracking capability, extendable spikes in the tires and an emergency ejection system." Q explained, pointing out exactly where each addition could be found, "As requested solar batteries were installed and the adaptive camouflage system was modified to be able to collect solar energy as well. With a few simple commands you should be able to discharge a rather blinding flash of light for six seconds before the batteries will run dry and need recharging."

"Nice." He said, still admiring the Aston Martin's look more than the additions that had been made by Q.

"There are a few other odds and ends stored in the baggage compartment but they're nothing too special." Q said as he concluded the explaining of the equipment he'd prepared, "Do try to bring them all back in one piece, Agent Mirror, otherwise I will strongly recommend to M that the repairs be billed directly to your savings account."

_Go right ahead, considering I emptied it of all but five bucks before leaving for my road trip._ He thought, already making plans to start a separate account once this was all over with.

"Now, I suspect that M will want to brief you on where you'll be going so I suggest you head to her office immediately." Q said, satisfied that his warning would have the desired effect.

"Of course. It never pays to keep a woman waiting." He said as he finished slipping the belt Q had provided around his waist to replace the one he had taken off, "See ya later Q!"

"Hopefully **MUCH** later Agent Mirror!" Q yelled after him as he left the room and headed towards the elevator.


	18. The Red, the Black and the Blue

"The Red, Black and Blue" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleybreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: The characters and other copyrighted material shown in this work of fiction do not belong to me. They are the rightful property of their creators and associated companies. I am making no money off of this so any legal action against me for the purpose of getting royalty or profit money from me would be pointless and probably counter productive. I am doing this merely for the enjoyment I get from writing and for the readers who might have some fun reading it.

Note : This is an overnight byproduct of going to see Spider-Man 3 last night and liking it so much that I decided that it at least deserved one chapter of my time. As it stands now this will probably be a one shot deal with no plans for future chapters. However as always if you the readers want to see more you need only bury me in positive reviews demanding more and I will see what I can do. No guarantees of course 'cause if the muse that brought this about doesn't want to inspire me and make writing more chapters easier I won't do it. It is my personal philosophy with regards to fanfic that ideas, scenes and plots should flow out of you like water running down hill. The second it becomes as hard as rolling a certain boulder up a hill with your bare hands it's time to stop until the ideas get to flowing again. Still as always reviews are welcome (even… sorta… the negative ones. Though I MUCH prefer the positive ones).

Now on with the show……

The Red, The Black and the Blue 

"No." Buffy moaned despondently as she looked at the blue marker colored toothpick in her hand.

Willow just looked at the similarly blue toothpick in her hand and rolled her eyes in frustration at the fate she had now been assigned by luck of the draw.

"Rats!" Dawn said although there was a slight twinkle in her eyes that made it clear that she didn't really mind and the annoyance was all for show.

"I am SO not doing this!" Cordelia stated adamantly since much to her displeasure she hadn't gotten the red toothpick like she and all the other girls wanted.

"Mwaahahahahahahaha!" Xander laughed with false villainy as he held up the crimson toothpick that made him the winner of the draw five of them had agreed to participate in.

It had started out harmlessly enough with Snyder roping them all, Cordy included much to his glee, into chaperoning some elementary school kids around trick or treating for two or three hours. It was an 'assignment' none of them were particularly thrilled about, Cordelia being the most vocal of the four of them, and right up until after the last bell of the day all of them voiced their displeasure to anyone who would listen. Which had pretty much been just the four of them since the Scooby gang were a member of the 'freak squad' and Cordy wasn't about to let news spread of her involvement with the chaperoning. It was then of course that Dawn Summers, Buffy's little sister, managed to hear what was going on since Joyce had been parked outside the school to pick the blonde Slayer up. From there things had taken a weird turn when Dawn suggested that Buffy, Willow, Cordy and him should wear costumes with a singular theme. Like have them all dress up like members of the real Scooby Doo gang with perhaps Buffy as Daphne. He'd quipped that Cordy could go as Scooby Doo since she was already a bitch to begin with and had an IQ similar to the talking dog. From there it had devolved into a debate as to which theme they should follow rather than whether or not they should follow any theme at all. Apparently Cordy had dreams of using a billionaire household theme with her naturally as the master of the household with the rest of them being her dutiful servants. Willow wanted to do a variation on the ghost theme since it would allow her to pull out her costume for the past six Halloweens straight. Buffy wanted to go with an eighteenth century theme with all of them dressing up as nobles and he knew why she wanted them to do **that**. Dawn had pitched the idea of them going out as characters from the Xena/Hercules universe (no doubt as her as either Gabrielle or Aphrodite given the look she had in her eyes) but Buffy shot that one down citing that none of them would look pretty good in those type of outfits.

_She probably was just having one of her 'I just want to be normal' episodes or at least 'I want to be something other than the Slayer' ones._ He thought as the others looked at him expectantly with a mix of wariness and curiosity, _Not that I don't understand that seeing as how most Slayers lead a pretty rotten life once they're called but I'm beginning to think she needs professional help._

So after almost twenty minutes of arguing over what the theme should be Mrs. Summers had suggested that they pick lots to decide or in this case toothpicks. The elder Summers took five toothpicks, used two markers from Dawn's backpack to color them red and blue, then placed them in an empty paper bag. The rule according to her was that they would each reach into the bag and pick out **one** toothpick and that there would be **no** redraws. That pretty much brought them to where they were at the moment with him finally having a spot of good luck for a change instead of the Harris family luck deciding to make his life miserable. The best part of it all he knew exactly what theme he was going to choose and not only would it make for a cool costume but it would also allow him to see two of the hottest ladies in Sunnydale in spandex.

_Someone must really like me up there!_ He thought unable to keep a victorious grin off his face.

"There's no way I am letting a **loser** like you choose what I get to wear tonight!" Cordy said furiously looking like she was just seconds away from storming off in a rage.

"Yes you are unless you want everyone to know that **the** Cordelia Chase is going to be taking a bunch of snot dripping, pudgy faced, bratty kids out trick or treating." He said in a way that was half humorous and half dead serious, "Of course you could always blow off this whole chaperoning thing but that would probably meant detention even for you and that means a whole hour stuck in the same room with the worst of Sunnydale High."

For a minute it looked like she was willing to let him follow through on his threats rather than let a geek like him choose her costume but eventually she must have pictured what an hour in detention would be like with the real troublemakers and losers because eventually she hung her head in defeat. With her out of the way he turned to the next most likely person to argue with him over his victory and that was one Buffy Anne Summers. For a moment it looked like she might voice similar defiance but apparently she was smarter than most blondes since she was apparently taking a more intelligent route.

"Fine. However there are a few rules that **MUST** be followed or I'll take my chances with Snyder and detention." She said making it clear she would not back down from this no matter what he or her mother said.

"No Problem!" he said knowing that no matter what rules she laid down he'd find a way around them to get the eye candy he wanted.

"First it can't be anything that could be mistaken for a bathing suit of any kind." She stated instantly shattering the slave girl Princess Leia outfit idea he'd had.

"Sure." He said already reworking his theme idea to meet that requirement.

"Secondly it can't be the **least** bit transparent. I don't want any detail showing through the costume!" she said obliterating his Arabian dancing girl idea but he'd never really believed he could get any of them into an outfit like that anyway.

"Finally it **cannot** be made of **spandex**!" she said as though this was the most important rule of them all.

_Hmmmmm._ He thought as his mind tried to find a way of obeying that rule while at the same time getting the eye candy his hormonally driven teenage mind demanded.

It took a moment but eventually he managed to figure out a way around that rule and so promptly said "Sure thing!"

For a moment both Buffy and Willow looked a bit stunned that he would give up on the idea of seeing them in spandex but after using the non-verbal language known only to teenage girls apparently decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"So where're we going for these outfits?" Dawn asked looking at Xander like she was trying to figure out what he was scheming and wondering if he needed any help.

"Well there's this new place called Ethan's that just opened up about two weeks ago." He suggested remembering passing by it on his way to the Bronze one night, "I only got a look at what the place had in their window displays but they looked pretty cool."

"Okay so let's meet there in half an hour or so alright?" Buffy asked since all of them would probably want to drop their school things off at home first.

Everyone nodded and with one final wary look from the ladies at the Xan-Man they all went their separate ways.

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_**Ethan's, Twenty Minutes Later **_

_Okay! I got ten minutes before my victe… __**friends**__ show up which means I have just enough time to skim through the entire place for just the right costumes. _He thought as be began that skimming examining each costume carefully.

For a moment he smiled just like one of those clichéd super villains on Saturday morning cartoon shows or in the comic books but that was understandable since he'd come up with a truly cunning way of getting around Buffy's last rule. Without even meaning to the blonde Slayer had given him one helluva loophole in her rules and with the time Snyder had set for them to be at the school she wouldn't be able to refuse what he gave her costume-wise. None of them would. The loophole was the fact that none of the costumes could be made out of **spandex** which while being the first fabric of choice for him was not the only thing costumes could be made from. There were numerous other fabrics that were used in the creation of Halloween costumes and the one he was keeping his eye out for was one of them. The fact that it was the only thing other than spandex that he would pay money to see Buffy and Cordy in was definitely a good thing as far as he was concerned.

Looking about the store he saw many outfits that sent his brain into temporary blue screen of death mode when he tried to picture either Buffy or Cordelia in them but none of them seemed quite right. There was one in the cosplay section of Urd from Oh My Goddess that he thought would look great on Buffy and a Catwoman costume that he thought would make Cordy's bitchin' worth it but his gut was telling him to keep looking. He also looked for outfits that would be good for Dawn, Willow and himself but in their case he did his best to keep his prospects a little more conservative and not quite as potentially embarrassing as Buffy or Cordy's. After all as far as he was concerned both Willow and Dawn were like sisters to him and one could not ogle their sisters no matter what or let them be ogled by other guys for that matter. So for them he was aiming for something a little more 'mother approved' rather than 'supreme hotties' like he was with the other outfits. He knew he couldn't go all the way to 'mother approved' with Dawn since the newly-become-teenager was in her 'I want to dress like a grown up' phase and would get seriously miffed if he tried to fit her in anything too childish. It wouldn't keep him from aiming in the direction of what Mrs. Summers would probably approve of but he'd do his best to keep away from the 'cute' and 'adorable' costumes.

It wasn't until he had about five minutes left before the gang would show up that he struck the motherload of costume possibilities and the best part was that they would be of one theme. It had also been his costume idea before the choice to make a theme choice began between his friends and Cordelia since he was a big fan of the guy the costume was based on. It had been nothing less than a shock when the man had first popped up on the scene a few years ago but ever since then he was probably the biggest fan of this guy in all of Sunnydale. While his crappy drunk parents kept him from becoming a serious fan like some Trekkies were or even a moderate fan he had a scrapbook hidden in his room filled with newspaper clippings of everything this guy did. He was like a fantasy come to life for him, a hero just like the ones in the comic books he read as a kid, and while Buffy was no slouch in the hero department Spider-Man was in a league all his own. It was almost enough to make him believe in fate as he looked at the Spider-person outfits adorning the mannequins and wondered at the possibilities.

He was not being politically correct when he had used the term Spider-person rather than Spider-man because while the majority of the outfits were definitely masculine there were some that would only fit on a woman's body. One of them was a red, gold and black number with an opening on the top to allow a woman's hair to flow through and webbing sown beneath the arms. It definitely had some similarities with Spider-man's uniform but someone had definitely wanted to create a separate identity with only the loosest connection to the web head when they designed it. Next was a black and white number that like the first one allowed for a woman's hair to flow freely outside of the costume and had what looked like thigh high white boots for the woman to wear. With matching shoulder length white gloves and spider-symbol on the chest and it was definitely a unique albeit darker version of the wall crawler's outfit.

The third costume was almost completely dark blue in color, almost black unless one took time to look carefully, with red added on as if some giant blood red spider had leapt onto the person and wrapped its legs tastefully around the woman's body. He'd already decided right then and there that this would be the costume he would assign to Dawn since it was concealing yet stylish. Costumes number four and five were the ones that matched the real web head's the best with only a few cosmetic or artistic differences making them look different. Arms that were entirely blue with red fingers that had web designs on them, legs that had half blue half red an black webbing designs on them and torsos with the red & web design with the black spider exaggerated on both sides. Best of all there was one that was about Buffy's size and one his own sign which cemented his decision all the more since it would be the perfect way of gaining some ground over Deadboy in the 'be-the-boyfriend-of-Buffy' race. Oh he knew that she had said that she didn't think of him that way or that she just wanted to be his friend but to him that just meant that he would have to work harder to show her that he was the man for her rather than Overbite. After all as far as he was concerned there was no real choice between him and Angel seeing as how Lord Forehead was so limited by his being a vampire. All he had to do was show Buffy how much less heartache she would have in a relationship with him and how impossible a relationship with dust for brains would be. He had no doubt it would be difficult as hell especially considering how stubborn she could be at times when it came to confronting the painful truth but it would be worth it in the end.

_Well let's see how much these'll cost to rent out._ He thought to himself as he bent down a bit to take a look at the prices for each costume.

He almost dropped his jaw in surprise at how low the prices were for the costumes in front of him. Even when added together the total cost of buying these outfits was at least forty bucks less than he thought it'd be for such obvious quality. However before he could feel too happy about the perfectly payable price he remembered that in order for his choice to see the light of day the costumes couldn't be made of spandex. Looking at each of them in turn he couldn't quite lie to himself and say that they weren't made of spandex. He tried to convince himself that they were made of something that just **looked** like spandex but despite his vivid imagination he just couldn't argue with the truth when it was standing right in front of him. Grasping at straws he reached behind the collar of each costume to look at the tag and see what it said about the material the outfit was made out of but each time 'spandex' was the reply he got. With a sigh he realized that his dream would have to remain just a dream because short of a miracle there was no way Buffy was going to bend on her no spandex rule much less toss it out all together.

"Excuse me young man? Is there something I can do to improve your mood?" came an overly helpful Brit voice from behind him.

Unfortunately the guy really should have made some noise on the approach because in the blink of an eye Xander had leapt up in surprise, turned around and barely managed to restrain himself from going on instinct and hitting the guy.

"Don't **DO** that!! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" he exclaimed reprimanding the older looking man that had startled him.

"Terribly sorry sir! I am afraid its an old habit of mine I haven't been able to shake." The man said sounding genuinely sorry, "Now, as I asked earlier, is there anything I can do to improve your mood? You seem most disappoint about these costumes here for some reason."

"Well not unless you got these costumes in something other than spandex. Ya see I managed to win a bet with some of my friends so I get to pick the theme of the costumes we're going to wear tonight." He explained hoping against hope that this obvious store employee might be his savior, "However one of the rules they laid down was that the costumes could not be made of spandex. These costumes would have been perfect but seeing as how they'd break the rule I can't get them."

"Oh dear! I see the dilemma young man." The store employee said with genuine empathy for the Xan-man's situation, "However I think I just might have a solution for you in the back. Please wait a moment here and if I am right I will be right back with solutions to your problems."

"Sure! No problem!" he said for once thinking that maybe he was going to get his wish after all.

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The Back of Ethan's Costume Shop, Two Minutes Later 

_Oh this is just too __**good**__ to let slip by without trying at least once to make it work! _Ethan thought to himself as he slipped into the back room and made sure the curtains were closed tight.

While he had known that Ripper and his charges were in town when he had decided to come to Sunnydale to play his little Halloween trick he hadn't done so with them specifically in mind. All he wanted was to enjoy the chaos that would be created by people becoming the very thing they dressed up as for one night. So far that plan had come along swimmingly since he had already managed to sell a third of his stock so far with the flow of customers being such that he didn't expect to have anything left by closing time. That of course was because he'd arranged for the only other decent costume place in town named 'party town' to develop a slight case of vermin forcing them to shut down for the rest of the month. Thus with nowhere else to go just about everyone in Sunnydale was coming to his shop to either buy or rent a costume for the night with him leaning towards the former since it would only enhance the effects of his spell if the costumes became the possessions of the wearers. However even with the deck stacking he'd done it had been a long shot as to whether or not any of Ripper's crew would actually come to his shop much less pick anything out.

_Janus himself must have influenced the boy's choice of establishments! _He thought with glee as he quickly picked up five boxes containing the spider-person costumes the boy had been eyeing.

Laying them out on the table he recalled how he came to possess this limited stock of Spider-person costumes and why he was the only store in the world that had them. According to what his supplier had said one of the major designers for one of the clothing corporations in New York had decided to do something daring and create five original Spider-man costumes. At first her employers had been intrigued and willing to test run the costumes by making a limited amount of them, hanging them up in your average store and seeing how well they sold. Unfortunately for the designer not only didn't they sell but several overzealous Spidey fans took offense to the designs and trashed the store they were being sold in. As a result the new designs were tossed in the incinerator and the designer was demoted to a lower position than she had previously been in. Fortunately through his connections and a little bit of arcane suggestion he had managed to acquire what was left of the unique costumes that had been made and had them shipped here. While no one had technically bought the costumes yet he had a few on lay away for customers that intended to come in later to get them. From how those people acted he had the distinct impression that they were the sort that had parents who actually believed the drivel that J. Jonah Jameson printed in that rag of his. The teenagers probably were big fans of the wall crawler and intended to sneak these costumes on without their parents' knowledge. Admiring such defiance he had decided to remain open about a half hour longer than he normally would have chosen to just to give them the time they needed to slip through their parental authority figures' nets.

_For now though I have a bit of creative magic to do if I want Ripper's little rabble to have an __**interesting**__ night._ He thought to himself as he lay down the boxed costumes and opened them up.

When he had first considered what might happen if Rupert's group of teens came to his shop he had personally hoped that his Slayer would choose something particularly useless like the noblewoman's dress. After all it would be all too humorous for the defender of the human race, an example of girl power, to be reduced to a simpering airhead for the night. He could just imagine how the entire event would change her in the weeks to come and how the conflict between within her would mess with her mind. Her mind would likely be more prone to romantic nonsense and inability to defy strong men than ever before. A little chuckle escaped from his lips at the image that produced but it faded when he realized that now it would not come to pass.

_Still this should be amusing in and of itself. _He thought as he began to contemplate the possibilities while selecting the right ingredients for his 'solution' to the young man's problem.

After all while three of the five costumes didn't resemble the real Spider-man's costume in the least he was certain that the spell he would cast would still draw the majority of their characteristics from the New York wall crawler. As for the two that did for the most part resemble the actual Spider-man's costume they would probably affect the most profound changes on their wearers. That was where his amusement came from since he tried to imagine what it would be like for the Slayer to suddenly have a man's mind thrust into her head. The night would be one of unmitigated confusion for her and in the weeks that followed this night he wouldn't be surprised if the blonde wound up checking out the backsides of other young ladies. Oh the confusion and calamity that would cause for the young girl would provide him with weeks of amusement if he decided to stick around and watch. He wouldn't of course since he knew that the odds favored Ripper figuring out he was responsible for this night's festivities and despite the pleasure he got from driving the old man up the wall he wasn't about to risk receiving Rupert's wrath.

The man could be bloody brutal when he was of a mind to be.

_Still just because I can't be there to see the second act doesn't mean I can't set the stage for it._ He thought as he began to sprinkle crimson dust sparingly across the costumes before casting the spell to trigger the change.

With a flash of light that was just under the level that would probably have attracted quite a bit of attention from the customers the costumes before him were most definitely **not** spandex anymore. Instead they were a combination of leather, Velcro and unless he missed his guess there might actually be a bit of Kevlar in some places. It wasn't quite what he expected but considering how much time he had to work with he doubted whether or not things could have turned out any different. Most spells of this sort require a bit more time to ensure that the changes are exactly what the caster wants from beginning to end. With less than five minutes to work with the best he could do was key the spell to changing the materials the costumes were made of to something more suitable for the young man and his friends outside. That was in fact almost word for word what the spell said with him only supplying the image of the young man in his mind to make sure the incantation probed his mind for the details.

_Probably why the Kevlar is in there. _He thought as he took a moment to check and make sure that there was nothing that might cause the boy to reject the outfits, _If my sources were correct then the boy and his friends routinely help the Slayer in her nightly duties which would mean that they likely would likely benefit from the extra protection._

With his inspection concluded he placed the tops back on the boxes and quickly taped them back up so that there would be no sign that the costumes had been tampered with before purchase. From there it was quick drop of one costume per store bag and he was off to the cash register out front to deliver his 'solution' to the leading man of Ripper's little crew.

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In Front of Sunnydale High School, Ten Minutes Before Four 

"C'mon Buffy! I stuck to your rules every step of the way." Xander said as he tried to draw the blonde Slayer out of the bad mood she'd been in since he hooked up with her at her place, "It can't be mistaken for a bathing suit, it's not transparent in the least and it's not made of spandex which you can easily check by looking at the tag on the back of the neck part."

"You knew when I said no spandex that I meant no skin tight material Xander!" Buffy pointed out angrily as she continued to march towards the front doors of the school in her costume, "Besides I am **SO** gonna have mask hair after this!"

"If you meant to say no skin tight material you should have said no skin tight material Buff'." He said pointing out the fact in a way that made it sound like it was her fault he misunderstood, "Besides it's too late now to go get another costume so just try and make the best of it. Besides with you dressed up like Spider-man maybe the kids will actually do what you tell them to do."

"It's not the kids I'm worried about. Mostly. It's all the jocks and people we go to class with staring at the skin tight wearing me that I'm not thrilled about." She said as the group entered the school and headed to the student lounge to pick up their group of rugrats, "Arrgghh! Let's just get this over with!"

Heading down the hallways there was no trouble in finding out where the kids were since all they had to do was follow the yelling, screaming and sounds of little sneaker clad feet on the tiled floor. However when they turned the corner they saw a sight that had probably reassured Buffy that she wouldn't be the one that the jocks and guys would be staring at. Standing dead center with her own group of five kids was one Cordelia Chase clad in her skintight red, black and gold Spider-person costume. Looking around it was obvious that every male in the place had his eyes glued to Cordy and her curve following costume. Even the occasional elbow by the girlfriend's of the jocks who were present only served as a minor distraction for the guys and it apparently took a slap across the face to get the guys to realize that they were screwing up their nookie chances for the next month.

"Well Buff' I don't think that you have to worry about being the center of attention." He said seeing both the blonde Slayer and Willow gape at all the attention Queen C was getting, "Though I'm betting that Cordy's gonna be getting a lot of attention she doesn't need for at least a month."

"Couldn't happen to a more deserving person!" Willow said almost too softly to hear.

Turning around he shook his head at the fact that his bestest bud since pre-school was still using Buffy and him as human shields to keep anyone from getting a good look at her in her black and white Spider outfit. It had been like this almost from the moment she put it on and it took a full twenty minutes of convincing and promises to come to her aid if she needed it to get her to leave the Summers home. He wasn't looking forward to trying to get her to go out with her group of brats by herself since she was likely to nervous herself into a tizzy without either him or Buffy to calm her down. Right then and there he made a mental note to try and keep his group of kids no more than two houses away from Willow's group at all times. Hopefully just being within eyesight of his redheaded buddy would be enough to keep her from totally freaking out in front of her group of pre-teen punks.

"Rowr! Willow! Don't you know you're supposed to be Spider-woman tonight not Ca-AAAAAA!!! Hey!" he yelped as someone pinched his butt causing him to leap and turn at the same time to find out who the offender was.

What he saw was one dark blue with scarlet spider clad blonde with a playful grin on her face and both hands behind her back that was causing her ch…

_NOT going to go there! I am NOT going to pull a Deadboy!_ He thought firmly to himself as he wrenched his thoughts away from where they'd been going and towards where he thought they should be with regards to the younger sister of Buffy Summers.

"Watch it with the hands Dawn-patrol! This guy's butt is a strict no pinching zone." He said trying to make a funny with what material he had on hand.

"Well then why don't you tell me what parts of you I **can** pinch and I'll stick to those spots." Dawn stated with a look on her face that she had a few **ideas** all her own about where she could peck a piece of Xanderness.

"There will be **no** pinching young lady! No pinching of the Xan-man!" he said with some anxiety at his lack of success in the 'flee from naughty Dawn' war.

"So then groping, fondling and rubbing are alright?" Dawn asked sounding and looking the picture of innocence.

"DAWN MARIE SUMMERS!!" Buffy screeched obviously having reached her tolerance level for her sister's 'too-R-rated-for-someone-her-age' words, "Not one more word out of you or mom's gonna get a full report when we get back home!"

"Geez Buffy! I was just playing around with him a little!" Dawn said with an annoyed tone of voice as she slipped out of her teasing mode, "Besides if I really wanted to come onto him I'd have jumped onto his back and made sure he felt **everything**."

This looked like it would seriously cause the blonde Slayer to blow her top, grab her sister and drag the youngest Summers woman straight home. Fortunately Willow noticed the attention that Buffy's yelling was garnering them from the rest of the student body and decided it was worth momentarily exposing her leather clad form to get her first real girl friend away from her sister before something bad happened. While he was thankful that his redheaded pal had managed to head off a potential eruption of Mount Buffy it was obvious the girl's brain was still a little addled by her discomfort of people seeing her in something skin tight 'cause otherwise she would have figured out that by removing the blonde Slayer he was now pretty much alone with the blonde Slayer's sister.

"So Xan when do we do our date… I mean duty?" Dawn said with a smile that made it clear that she hadn't slipped up with her words by accident but rather on purpose.

_Methinks this is gonna be a long night!_ He thought to himself as his mind scrambled to come up with more than three ways to keep Dawn doing something he'd regret later.

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Higher Plain of Existance, Realm of Janus 

"Oh what an opportunity! What a meal this could be!" crowed the God known as Janus as he looked down at the variables and probabilities coming together atop the Hellmouth.

"Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself?" his other half asked as if to remind him of something, "The spell that mortal Rayne is going to cast to invoke our power is only designed to last the night. No matter how much chaos those five create it'll be over by sunrise if not earlier."

"Normally yes but I'm planning on 'tweaking' things a little so that those five mortals will keep what they gain this night." The playful side of Janus stated his amusement not dimmed in the slightest, "After all if one wall crawler in New York can provide me with a tasty treat every now and again then think what five more web slingers could provide me with!"

"You can't do that!! You know that the Powers That Be have plans for that girl and her friends! They'll be pissed if you give them all the powers of the spider!" the more cautious and responsible side of Janus exclaimed in fear at what his other half was planning.

"Oh like those pencil pushers ever do anything but give out orders!" the playful Janus said with his humor only slightly reduced at the thought of the potential trouble the PTBs might cause him, "Besides I plan on throwing a little variety into the powers these five receive. I recently took a peek in Zeus' pool of seeing and saw all the different forms Spider people can come in and it gave me some great ideas!!"

"Zeus! You used Zeus' seeing pool!! Do you have any idea what he'll do when he finds out!?!?!?!" the more responsible side of Janus exclaimed with genuine fear at all the trouble his more playful side was getting the both of them into.

"Don't worry! I know about a few trysts the Olympian had that Hera is completely clueless about." The playful side of Janus stated to reassure his responsible side, "All I have to do is imply that I would go straight to Hera with that information and he'll back down. After all he just got her to trust him again a century or two ago. There's no way he's going to risk another thousand years of her giving him trouble just because I looked in his pool of seeing!"

"I guess I better get started picking our spot in purgatory 'cause I don't need to be a god to know what's going to happen to us after this!" his more responsible half stated as though his fate was sealed.

"You'll be singing another tune when all that chaos cuisine comes in tonight my stiffer half!" the playful face of Janus stated as he prepared to enact his plans for the five mortals garbed as Spider people.

Suffice it to say that this is a perfect example of why you should pay a **little** more attention to your responsible side folks.

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_**The Library, Sunnydale High School, **_

One Hour After the Janus Halloween Spell Ended 

"So anyone else feel like a super freak right now?" Cordy asked sarcastically from her seat looking like she wanted nothing more at the moment than to literally start bouncing off the walls in anger.

Funny thing was that she **could** literally do that if she wanted to but at the moment the weight of the changes she and all the others had undergone was keeping her still so she could at least partially lie to herself and say she was still normal. However all of them knew she was anything but after the events of earlier that night and neither were they. Unlike the rest of the trick or treaters that got their costumes from Ethan **frickin'** Rayne's store they had retained control of their bodies for the most part with only a few things shoved into their heads. The major thing that was put in there was the knowledge of how to control and use their new spider centered abilities which turned out to be a definite plus when Spike showed to take advantage of the chaos the spell had created. It had been like a cat playing with a mouse the way the gang had been able to run him ragged when the walking corpse tried to get away from them. The vamp didn't stand a chance against any of them with their newly obtained Spider powers but it was fun tricking him into thinking he might get away only to pull the rug out from under him at the last minute. Too bad the spell was broken before they could dust him and even more frustrating was that when the spell did break all of them were disoriented for a bit letting Spike finally slip past them so he could crawl back under whatever rock he lived under. However the real shock was yet to come when Cordy got super pissed at Buffy for involving her in this weirdness and reflexively shot her with some kind of energy blast.

_Yeah. Here we all thought that we had just gotten copied versions of the real web head's powers but looks like some of us got a few extras._ Xander thought as he looked down at the laid out Slayer that was still unconscious on the library's main table.

For Queen C it seemed to be some kind of venom blasts (her own name for them), a limited form of flight that might actually be gliding given the webbed wings under her arms and unless he missed his guess some sort of animal magnetism given how she managed to lure the vamps following Spike into their traps just by talking naughty to them. Then again the vamp minions may have just been thinking with their little heads rather than the one on their shoulders so he might have just been assuming too much.

For his bestest bud Willow she also got the basic enhance physical abilities like strength, speed, agility and the ability to cling to walls or ceilings. The add-ons turned out to be the fact that she could apparently generate energy based webbing where ever she wanted and control it like most people would control their limbs. It was a big help in blocking off Spike's means of escape whenever he actually managed to get some distance from the rest of them. She also seemed to have a super enhanced sense of touch because even if she couldn't see the corpse she could apparently feel his footsteps in the floor when he walked about. So all she had to do was scratch out the footsteps of the people she could see and knew in order to pick out peroxide boy's feet from the mixture of input she was receiving. Unfortunately now that the spell was gone she was having problems filtering through all the different input she was getting as well as blocking it out when she didn't want it. Fortunately the G-Man had agreed to teach her some meditative techniques to increase her mental control and would hopefully aide her in mastering this ability.

Dawn-patrol's abilities were pretty much an amalgam of Willow and Cordelia's abilities with some extra's like energy based spider legs she could sprout from her back. She could also get brief precognitive flashes and possessed some pretty impressive telepathy which she had used to apprise the rest of them of Spike's next move so that they were always one step ahead of him. Unfortunately now that the fighting was done and the talking had begun the younger sister of Buffy Summers was using this telepathy to plant some rather… intimate… images in his head which he was doing his best to keep from affecting his ability to speak clearly.

For him and Buffy though it was pretty much a copy of the abilities the real Spider-man was said to have or was speculated to have. Super strength, enhanced reflexes, increased agility, the ability to stick to almost any surface and wall crawl and a sixth sense to warn them of danger as well as which direction it was coming from were the ones they had managed to nail down so far on their own. Of course there was also the somewhat ick worthy ability to shoot webs from their wrists like Spider-man could but up until the spell kicked in both he and probably Buffy assumed that he had some kind of mechanical device under his costume that shot the webs. The blonde Slayer was less than pleased to know that they actually came from some kind of slit in their skin just beneath their wrists. While he hadn't been quite as repulses by this as Buffy had he had to admit that he wasn't crazy about the idea of shooting out bodily generated webbing from his own body. Still it had been handy in tripping up Spike so he was willing to give it some more time before he passed final judgment on the ability.

"Speak for yourself Cordy! I think this is a **BLAST!**" Dawn said from her position on the ceiling of the library, "Plus the hotness upgrade we all got must cheer you up a little!"

That was another thing that they got with the spell and kept after the spell ended. Each of them were now the epitome of physical perfection for their respective genders and ages although Buffy would likely argue that there was **no WAY** someone her younger sister's age could have a body like that naturally. He of course could not agree or disagree with that since there was no way he was letting the Dawn-meister add physical teasing to the little telepathic jpegs she was dropping into his head. For him he now found that he was built like a jock with serious muscles everywhere that would no doubt grab the attention of every girl in school if showed them off. Unfortunately while his body may have undergone a major upgrade he was for the most part still the same old Xander Harris and that meant he automatically thought the worst of any looks he might get in the hallways. Maybe that would change over time but for the time being he'd keep wearing the same clothes he always did to school.

"Well okay maybe it's not all bad!" Cordy admitted reluctantly as she looked down at her definitely **fine** body, "But we're still freaks!! I mean no one normal can do what we can now! I want the freakiness gone but the body enhancements to stay!"

"U-unfortunately Cordelia a-any means of reversing what was done to you all will likely not be selective about what it will undo and what it will allow to remain." Giles said speaking up for the first time after nearly being reduced to a stuttering mess when they all first walked into the library, "In all likelihood it will be a-an 'all or nothing' sort of arrangement."

This caused the Queen C to look seriously put out and ready for much ranting but apparently her few working brain cells told her that nothing would likely come of it so she chose to fume in silence.

"Assuming of course we want to get rid of them at all." He said coming to a decision on his own about where he stood on the situation.

"Xander?" asked Willow from her seat to the left of the unconscious Buffy.

"Think about it guys! We have a chance to do more good than we ever could have just being out normal selves." He said growing more confident in his position with every word, "I mean sure we helped Buffy out every once and awhile by researching the latest demon or doing crowd control whenever she needed a room cleared of innocent people but let's face the fact that we were pretty much just a support team. No matter how much we really tried to help Buffy was still the one to take down the big bads in the end. With these powers we can change all that!"

"While I admire your willingness to sacrifice your normality to help Buffy out I do not think you truly realize what you would be getting yourself into by becoming a more central part of the struggle." Giles stated sounding less like he really wanted to oppose the idea and more like he wanted to make sure everyone made an informed choice, "A-as a member of the support team you have the benefit of mostly being ignored by the threats Buffy faces each night. There are certain advantages to being beneath the notice of most demonic threats such as the element of surprise and being able to work without interruption."

"I know that moving up beside Buff' instead of staying behind her puts me in more danger G-man but it's a chance I'm willing to take." He said with complete honesty and determination, "I've heard from both you and Buffy that most Slayers don't make it past their first year. Did you ever think that maybe that's because they had to fight alone? A Watcher can only provide so much support with their books and crossbows. With these powers we could make sure that Buffy lives long enough to have grand-kids!"

"Or you could simply provoke the demonic community into increasing their own strength to counteract the change in the status quo between them and the Slayer." Giles said a little more sharply than he intended due to what Xander implied about Watchers, "You must understand Xander that the universe works on a series of checks and balances that play a big role in ensuring that neither the light or the darkness can maintain an advantage over the other for long. If you keep these powers then evil will be permitted to gain an equally powerful warrior for their side in order to counter you. If all five of you choose to retain your abilities then the same amount of power will be added to the forces of darkness to counter you. You could just wind up making matters worse."

"Can't imagine things getting much worse Giles!" he exclaimed not liking the idea of accepting the idea that evil like the type that took Jesse from him would be allowed to exist simply to preserve some stupid balance, "This is a war! A **WAR!** You don't fight wars to just maintain a stalemate for thousands of years! You fight it to **WIN!**"

"At what cost! How far are you willing to go to 'win' this war?" Giles said getting increasingly frustrated by the boy's ignorant words about a war that he had only just joined.

"All the way. Whatever it takes!" Xander replied without missing a beat.

"Then you'll become no better than the demons we fight Xander." Giles said firm in the idea that he was right and the teenager in front of him was clueless about the realities of the world, "There is no point to fighting a war against an enemy if you wind up becoming just like them by the end of it! We must always take care to remain true to the reasons we fight, the protection of innocents and the dispensing of justice, or else it is all meaningless."

"Tell that to the people who die everyday while you and the other Watcher's do only half you could do because of this balance. Tell that to Slayers like Buffy whose future gets reduced to a countdown of a year or two once they're called!" Xander shot back feeling that lofty words like 'balance' and keeping true to ideals that do more harm than good helped the enemy more than the good guys.

"If you too are done spraying testosterone all over the place could you please be quiet?" came an annoyed voice from the female form on the table that was coming too, "I've got a splitting headache and you two aren't making it any better with all your yelling!"

Looking in her direction they all watched as the blonde Slayer sat up from her prone position on the library table and took off the mast that until then had been left on her head. Seeing her face all could see the truth of the head pain the eldest child of Joyce Summers and immediately they adjusted their vocal volume levels mentally as well as their moods. While he still believed in his stance of winning the war against the darkness he wasn't about to cause his blonde hero even more pain by yelling about it. He could tell that similar thoughts were going through Giles' mind and so he decided to table their little debate for the time being.

"How are you feeling Buffy?" Willow asked a little too softly.

"I feel like my whole body just got tenderized." Buffy replied managing to convey her soreness through her voice, "Did you have to blast me that hard Cordy?!"

"Look! I'm sorry **OKAY!** I was just getting a little freaked at being turned into something straight from a carnival side show thanks to you and your loser friends!" Cordy exclaimed not about to deliver an apology without making it sound like she should get one as well.

"So I'm guessing that I wasn't imagining things earlier and we all still have our super powers from the spell?" Buffy asked sounding like she'd kiss the first person to tell her 'yes you were imagining things'.

_Tempting. Oh so very tempting! But she'd probably slap me silly once she found out I was lying to her._ He thought to himself as he considered the pros and cons of supporting her in denying the truth.

"'Fraid so Buff'! For the foreseeable future you're looking at the Arachnid Alliance!" he said testing out his new name for the team since Scooby gang didn't quite seem to fit them anymore.

"'Arachnid Alliance' Xander?" Buffy asked looking at him like he'd just told her that he'd seen Snyder actually praising a student that wasn't a brain or jock.

"The S-Men'?" he offered her as a suitable substitute hoping she'd like it better with the first letter of her last name snuck in there.

"How about we leave the team name alone 'til we actually make a decision about whether or not to keep these spider powers of ours." Buffy suggested and stopped his outburst with a hand, "I'm not saying that Giles is right but I am not saying that he's all wrong either. If word gets out that there's a group of spider-people hunting demons in Sunnydale the baddies are going to get all nervous and do something stupid. We need to be sure this will actually be worth the trouble that'll come our way later."

"Okay!" he said reluctantly as he could not disagree that it'd be smart to check all the angles before making a decision.

"Cool. Now unless Giles has some super important bits of wisdom for us I have a date with a hot shower and a warm bed." Buffy said as she started to head for the library doors.

Watching her go he couldn't help but admire the view he had of her… from the rear and definitely had to say that as far as he was concerned this spell definitely had more pros than cons. After all he was now surrounded by three visions of female hotness and gone from shrimp to champ physically in the space of a few hours.

_Definitely not seeing a downside here! _He thought to himself as the library doors closed behind the blonde Slayer.

However hearing a sound similar to a strip of leather being stretched or someone sitting down on a shiny sofa he turned and saw Dawn hanging down from the ceiling using a strand of the energy webbing she could now form.

The faux innocent look on her face did not fill him with optimism about what she was about to say next.

"So Xander? You looking for a partner for when you go patrolling?" she asked making it sound like she was serious about fighting the good fight but the look in her eye clearly saying that the only fighting she'd be doing would be with his mind.

_Hello downside!_ He thought to himself as he predicted how hard it'd be to decline her advances especially now that she had gotten a hotness upgrade and wouldn't be so easy to get away from anymore.

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A Little Over a Year and a Half Later, New York City, New York, Night Time 

"Not looking good for the web head is it Xan?" Dawn asked from her place at his side.

"Not with both Sandman and Smiley double teaming him like this it isn't." he replied looking up as his favorite male hero tried desperately to get to the redhead trapped in the cab suspended several stories above the ground by black webbing, "Even with that guy on the hover board helping out all it's gonna take is one slip up and either him or Spidey are going to be instant bug food."

"So are we gonna do anything about it or just stand by and do nothing?" the youngest Summers daughter asked while never letting her eyes leave the combatants fighting overhead.

That was the question of the day and for a moment he was caught between what he wanted to do versus what experience had taught him since that Halloween night a year and a half ago. In the months that had followed that night Giles had gone all out to find a way to reverse the changes wrought in the five of them. He called in every favor he was owed and consulted every book he could get his hands on with Willow consulting the internet for what areas no book really covered. While he had been slightly hurt that his bestest bud would be in favor of taking from him the powers that allowed him to contribute more to the gang as a whole he could understand why she had done it. While Giles' meditation exercises and some help from Ms. Calendar had lessened the strain and discomfort the redhead received from her powers it still wasn't pleasant being able to feel every vibration in the ground around her.

Cordy of course milked her newfound perfect female form for all it was worth during high school and when he'd last talked with her she'd actually managed to land a role on some TV crime drama. Apparently she was playing the role of a female private investigator that occasionally aided two L.A lawyers. Apparently all the entertainment journalists that had done work on the show were expecting big things for it and even had a few positive things to say about Queen C as well. Nothing big of course since Cordy was an unknown and this would be her first serious role but still it was promising. Once she had gotten over the initial 'freakiness' of her condition she had embraced it completely and while not joining them on patrols all the time she could be counted on to show up when something big came up.

Buffy on the other hand had over time come to see the new powers as a godsend since with her enhanced speed, strength and agility as well as spider powers on top of her Slayer abilities the number of demons she actually had trouble putting down had been few. That was not to say that the past year and a half hadn't had its rough spots and for the blonde Slayer there had been one particularly nasty spot when during the crisis with a demon called The Judge Angel had somehow lost his soul. While Buffy hadn't been overly forthcoming with the details he had been able to come up with a few theories after seeing the look on her face. It had disgusted him for awhile that she had actually done **it** with what had essentially been a corpse but the pain in her eyes had been enough to persuade him to keep his mouth shut at the time. After the destruction of the Judge at the mall the pain she felt at dusting Angelus was masked only by the pride he himself had felt at her being able to find the inner strength to do her duty despite her feelings for Angel. When he had inquired with her afterwards what had given her the strength to do it she revealed something he had thought up until then only he possessed.

Apparently unlike with the others both he and Buffy had somehow had the memories and personality of the real Spider-Man, the real Peter Parker, copied into their heads. It hadn't shown up right away for either of them but had rather been shown to them in their dreams and in certain surprise episodes of academic excellence in school. Subjects that neither he no Buff' had done well in before they were slowly starting to become straight A students in with sufficient speed to make Snyder go nuts trying to figure out how they were cheating. It took until just before the mess with the Judge had started before everything in their heads finished settling into place but by then the word 'responsible' had taken on a deeper meaning for them both. It was the words of wisdom that Peter's Uncle Ben had given to Pete that last time in the car before the surrogate father of the web head had been murdered that had prodded her into doing her duty. Mentally both before and after Angel had turned into Angelus she had known that the things that had happened to Peter hadn't happened to her and that the emotional baggage that came with the memories had nothing to do with her at all. However when the time to make a choice arrived at the mall that night all she could think about was about the people that would die if she didn't stake Angelus right then.

_Feeling the guilt that Pete felt from letting that crook go when he could have done something was terrible enough for the both of us to carry around after Halloween. _He thought to himself as he watched Hover Boy use the jets on his board to roast Sandman, _She couldn't bear to have more guilt piled on top of that for every person Angelus would kill if she let him go._

Buffy had disappeared after that fight in the Sunnydale Mall and there were precious few clues as to where she'd gone. However when he began hearing things on the radio of the L.A.P.D finding a variety of muggers and kidnappers webbed up in alleyways. While the others had been a bit skeptical he had known from the beginning that it was Buffy and figured that if she had been up to catching a few crooks every now and again in L.A then she'd be back with them in Sunnydale in no time. True to form he was right on the money since she strolled back into town in September a little down in the dumps but still ready to step up to the line and do her duty. From there the usual 'fun' had started with the arrival of some potential Slayer named Faith who was, as they found out later rather than from her, on the run from some old vamp named Kakistos. Needless to say what caused problems for one potential Slayer and a Watcher proved to be no problem at all for five Spider people. Well four since Cordy pretty much turned around and went home after she saw how ugly Kakistos was and refused to go near anything that gross. ANYway things slowed down about after that with just your usual Dr. Hyde guy and then a fake Watcher before being topped off by those **asshole** Watchers coming to town 'cause of some test they put Slayers through when they hit eighteen. Naturally everyone agreed that they should keep their spider powers under wraps since no one wanted to give the Tweed Brigade a reason stick around. There were a few close calls but by the time Travers left town every member of the Arachnid Alliance (he was the only one to use that name. Everyone else stuck with the Scooby gang) was relatively sure that the Watchers hadn't suspected a thing.

_After all perfect actors they were not if the pissed look on Travers' face was anything to go by after Buffy zinged him with a couple of choice quips. _He thought with a pleased smile.

From there though signs began to pop up that there was something more going on in Sunnydale than incompetent cops and the big bad of the week. Bit by bit they discovered that there was some big mastermind running things in town but it wasn't until it was revealed that Faith had gone over to the dark side that they were given the truth. As it turned out the Mayor of Sunnydale Richard Wilkins the Third was the mastermind behind it all and had been building up to something big for the past century. Naturally though everyone thought that with super cool spider powers on their side they'd make quick work of the Mayor's plans. Sadly they underestimated how networked the guy was and while they did manage to slow down his plans for the Ascension they weren't able to keep the key components for the ritual out of his hands. Thus they were forced to come up with a plan B since plan A 'keep the key stuff away from the baddie' had gone straight down the drain. Fortunately between him, Buffy and Willow they had been able to come up with an explosive solution to the problem in the form of rigging the high school to blow. All Buffy had to do was piss off both Faith and Wilkins off with a few choice comments and assaults to their pride to get the duo to follow her into the hallways and straight to ground zero of the blast. Faith managed to get clear of the worst of it but got hit in the head by some flying debris and that put her in a coma that she was stuck in to this day.

From there he'd decided that it might be a good idea to put some distance between him and the Hellmouth for a while to get some R&R. He'd been all packed and ready to go but no sooner did he step out the front door of the humble Harris home then he ran into Dawn who looked like she was running away from home. With a backpack on her shoulders and a duffel bag in her hands she had been standing next to his car with a smile on her face that just screamed trouble. Apparently she'd heard about his plans for a road trip from Willow and decided she'd join him. Naturally he played the parental card hoping that the mention of Joyce's name would make the youngest Summers back down but to his complete shock Mrs. Summers had actually supported the idea. What was even more shocking was that they'd be picking up Buffy on the way out of town and that that part was non negotiable. While Joyce had been a little easier on the worrying as far as Buffy being the Slayer and Dawn helping out once she'd been clued in on the spider powers she still wasn't about to let the youngest Summers girl go anywhere without at **LEAST** two chaperons. Buffy of course hadn't been thrilled in the beginning about having her summer plans forcibly changed thanks to her little sister but as the days past the newness of every town they stopped in changed her mood for the better bit by bit.

By the time they reached New York City she was actually acting like she'd been behind the idea all along and was enjoying everything that the city had to offer. Naturally Dawn's little sister tendencies had her pointing out that Buffy had been dragged kicking and screaming into the car at every available opportunity but the blonde Slayer of course did the **big** sister thing and ignored Dawn. This left him in the middle doing his best to referee and keep the trip fun for all rather than having it degrade into a FREE for all between the two of them. Fortunately their timing for coming to the big apple was **perfect** since not a day after they arrived there was a big ceremony being held to honor the one and only true web slinger for saving the life of the daughter of a local police captain's daughter. Surrounded by Spidey fans of all ages and seeing the real deal in person completely distracted all three of them from whatever was bothering them at the time. True the event had been cut short by the Sandman robbing an armored car nearby but the ceremony had definitely been the bright spot for that day.

However it also introduced a question of sorts into his mind that had him almost completely zoning out for the three days that followed. He knew that Peter Parker was Spider-man. Should he try and meet with Pete and let him know that there were two other people out there that knew some of his innermost secrets? He had thought it would be the right thing to do just in case something happened in the future that let some big bad take a peek inside his or Buffy's heads. The guy deserved to get a heads up in case trouble popped up one day. However the thing that had kept him from going straight to the guy's apartment was that if he told Pete that two other people knew his civilian I.D the science guy would want to know how. He knew that would tread into dangerous territory and might require Buff' to spill the Slayer beans to the nephew of Aunt May. After all to most people magic, demons and vampires were a bunch of nonsense especially to those stern supporters of the scientific method. He knew that Pete was a scientist through and through and would not be easy to convince that magic and demons were real tangible things. So up until tonight, when Pete was fighting for his life against two powerful opponents, he had been debating the pros and cons of it all as well as how he'd do it if he decided to meet Peter. Now though it looks like fate was demanding that he step up to the plate and choose a path.

Looking down at Dawn then at Buffy he knew that for them there was only one real choice that they could live with.

"Let's find someplace secluded to change into our fighting threads." He said and without a further word to either Summers girl he quickly separated himself from the crowd that was watching the fight and headed to the first alleyway he could find.

"Fighting threads? What do you mean Xan'?" Buffy asked once they were far enough into the alleyway that only someone looking directly down from the mouth of it would be able to see them.

To answer her he reached into his pockets and pulled out a pair of crimson gloves with ridges on them that looked like spider webs.

"You brought it with you?!" Buffy asked in shock as he put the gloves down on a trashcan before pulling his shirt over his head to reveal the top of his Halloween costume which had undergone some cosmetic changes since he bought it.

For one thing the color scheme had been flipped somewhat in that the torso part of the top was now sky blue, the spider symbol both on the chest and on the back had been enlarged considerably and the arms were now like the gloves in that they were completely red with ridged web designs on them.

"Of course! Ever since I decided on coming to the Big Apple I've been trying to decide on whether or not to try and get some web swinging in." he replied as he pressed his middle and ring fingers to his palm and webbed up a makeshift bag, "I didn't want my face plastered over every paper in town if some lucky photographer managed to snap a few pics so I brought my Halloween costume along just in case. Considering what we're about to do I'd say I made the right move!"

"Are you out of your MIND!?" Buffy exclaimed before realizing that yelling might draw attention to the three of them, "We have enough enemies to deal with back home without putting out want ads for more by swinging around New York City. Or do you really think that the web head's baddies are just going to leave us alone once they know we're out there?"

"Don't worry Buffy. As long as nothing happens to my mask and I play it safe no one will know who's in this outfit." He said as he slipped out of his cargo pants revealing that his bottoms had a color scheme identical to his arms and gloves, "Besides it's not like I'm gonna be wearing it back in Sunnydale or anything so no one who spots me tonight will have a clue where to start looking for the man behind the mask."

"You mean man and **woman** behind the mask right Xan'?" asked Dawn who up until this point had been ignored by the two participants of the discussion.

Both he and Buffy looked in the direction of Dawn's voice and both were unable to keep their jaws from dropping to the ground albeit for entirely different reasons. Standing before them and slipping off her jeans was Dawn Summers in her Spider person costume but like his own outfit it too had undergone some changes. The color scheme and design were pretty much the same but there was now considerably less fabric involved. The top half of her costume that had once covered everything between the waist and neck had been reduced to a halter-top that stopped an inch or two below her chest thus showing off quite a bit of stomach as well as her arms. As for the bottom half of the costume everything from the knees down to the ankle were gone leaving only what could be called slippers on her feet. About the only thing that appeared to be untouched was the mask covering everything from the tip of her nose to the top of her forehead. For him this was shocking because like any red-blooded teenager he was unable to prevent himself from recognizing how sexy she looked right then. For Buffy on the other hand it was probably her shock at the possibility that she might just have been dethroned as the better looking daughter of Joyce Summers as well as how much Dawn skin was showing at the moment. Fortunately he was the one to first come out of his shock, or at least his brain was, but his mouth apparently had blown a judgment fuse.

"Well I think it's safe to say that I won't have to worry about the cameras being aimed at me while we're out there." He said as he slipped his gloves on and pulled his mask on.

"DAWN!! You are NOT going out there like THAT!!" Buffy exclaimed no longer caring who heard her but rather preferring to make her opinion known LOUD and CLEAR, "Do you WANT to give mom a heart attack?! You know that this is going to wind up on the news and that she's going to see it sooner or later!!"

"Chill sis! Like Xander said if we play it safe no one will be able to get anything close to a head shot of me much less anything else." Dawn said as though she was barely interested in what her older sister had to say as she slipped her gloves on, "Besides you can't say you weren't thinking about doing the same thing!"

Just by the look on Buffy's face after that comment he knew exactly what Dawn was implying and the hypocrisy of what the blonde Slayer was trying to keep her younger sister from doing.

"I was not!" Buffy said in a futile attempt to deny the implications of Dawn's statement.

"Oh really?" Dawn said with an 'I do not think so' tone of voice and without warning the younger summers shot out two strands of psi-webbing and then yanked upwards.

The two strands slapped onto the bottom of Buffy's shirt and when Dawn yanked them up the shirt went with it taking the front of the shirt with it. Not exactly what he would have done considering how females generally react when part of their wardrobe is destroyed. However it did reveal that just like him Buffy had her spider person costume underneath her shirt and thus made it obvious to anyone who knew her that she had indeed planned on doing some web slinging during her time in New York City. Still she was not a happy Slayer at the moment and while the jacket she was wearing would allow her to cover up what her shirt now could not he knew she'd be ranting extra hard now.

"DAWN!!" Buffy growled while pulling her jacket across her exposed front to hide her Spider outfit.

"Look Buffy! Me and Xander are going to help Spider-Man one way or another so you can either stand here and wait for us to come back or join in." Dawn said as she began to climb up the side of the building that made up one half of the alleyway, "Besides if you're so worried about upsetting Mom think about how worried she'd get if she saw me fighting Sandman and his Slime-Man pal without you there to keep me safe."

With no further words spoken the youngest Summers girl hastened her climb up the wall no doubt with the intention of getting sufficient height to web swing over to the construction site where the fighting was going on as they spoke. Looking at Buffy he had to admit that what Dawn said was true since whether the blonde Slayer liked it or not he was going to led Pete a helping hand. Looking at her for a moment he then leapt up into the air and grabbed a hold of the wall just below where the Dawn-meister was at the moment. Climbing up the wall and keeping pace with the blonde above him (while keeping his eyes someplace completely neutral of course) he hoped that Buffy would understand why this had to be done and join them. If she didn't though he wouldn't take it out on her later like Dawn probably would. Buffy had enough on her plate as the Slayer and this **was** supposed to be a vacation for her so he could understand why she didn't want to do anything to ruin that. Besides between him and Dawn they'd pound some sense into Sandman and his buddy then web them up for the cops to pick up later.

Upon reaching the top of the building they could see that the fight between Sandman and Hover Board Dude had pretty much finished up, the hostage had been rescued and the battle against Goop Guy had moved into the framework of the new building under construction.

"Guess we better get a move on before all we can do is make a dramatic entrance eh Dawn?" he asked in a mock casual voice.

"It's be a shame to get all dressed up and have no one to pound." She replied with an excited grin on her face.

"Well then ladies first!" he said with a gentlemanly bow and gesture towards the construction site.

"Why thank you kind sir!" Dawn said with a half curtsy before firing off a psi-web line and swinging away towards their sparring partner for the evening.

Seeing her swing away he decided it would be appropriate to take a moment to reflect on what was about to happen and what it would probably mean for the future of him and his girls.

Reflecting.

_Okay! I've done enough reflecting!_ He thought humorously before firing off a web line of his own and following the youngest Summers daughter into battle, _Time to make with the quip slinging and bad guy pounding!_

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	19. Phoenix Rising or Attack of the Airheads

"Dreams and Ideas Vol.2" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryley[underscorebreen[athotmail[dotcom

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"Phoenix Rising or Attack of the Airheads" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

Disclaimer: This is to make clear that I do not own any of the copyrighted material that appears in this drabble/short whatsoever. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I am making no profit from this at all. I write this for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of those who choose to read it.

Note 1: I know that the whole 'Halloween-turn-Xander-into-a-girl' thing has been done before as I have read many of them myself. However in my opinion just about **EVERYTHING** has been done before to one point or another so the most one can do is take an idea one likes and put one's own original spin on it. That is what I intend to do with this drabble/fanfic.

So without further delay let's see what kind of trouble Xander gets himself into this time.

Phoenix Rising or Attack of the Airheads Back Alleyway Behind the Harris Home, Night, Day Before Halloween 

"Are you sure this is, like, a good idea Harmony?" Aura asked as she did her best not to let the ickiness of where she was, both clean-wise and class-wise, get to her too much.

"Of course it is! Duh! You know that our Cordy has been spending more and more time with those freaks lately. That **has to** stop!" Harmony replied as she tried to find a spot closer to the fence blocking off the Harris back yard that wasn't overwhelmingly yuck worthy, "She's **Cordelia Chase**, the Queen of Sunnydale High School, and it is our duty as her loyal followers to keep her from going down the wrong path!"

"So why does that mean we have to sneak down this disgusting alley to peek inside that loser Harris' home?" Aura asked as she tried to figure out how much it would cost to replace her shoes.

"It's simple. We're going to capture something super embarrassing on film and use it to force him to do something even freakier than normal." Harmony replied as she turned on the camera, "Doing that will wake Cordelia up and show her what a big mistake she's making by going near those freaks."

She pondered this for a moment and she could see the logic in it. After all, while Harris and his friends were known to be freaks by the entire school, a stranger wouldn't know it just by looking at them. A person would actually have to **talk** to those losers to find that out and that was what she figured was wrong with Cordy. The Queen of the Sunnydale High School social scene needed a reminder of just how freaksome Xander and his friends were to show her why someone of high status shouldn't associate with them. Just talking to Queen C wouldn't do it and it would be a major social faux pas to challenge someone who was at the top of the social ladder. By doing it this way they could still knock some sense into their leader while at the same time not be connected to it in any way.

After finally managing to get close enough to the fence to see over it without getting too close to something revolting, she looked in the direction Harmony was focusing her camera. From what she could tell she was aiming it at the sliding glass doors leading into the dining room and it was easy to see why a moment later. Sitting at the table, eating what she supposed was his supper, was the loser Harris wearing only a tank top and some shorts. For a moment she was distracted by how tone his arms were and how his shirt showed off a nice chest but a second later she caught herself and shook such thoughts from her head. Obviously the 'starting-to-see-freaks-as-people' thing Cordy had was contagious and if she didn't watch herself she'd need one of these intervention things before too long.

A minute later she began to get impatient for something interesting to happen when the sound of glass breaking caught her ear. Looking for the source, she found a sight that almost caused her to lose her lunch right then and there as her eyes fell upon the most disgusting guy she had ever seen. Wearing boxers and a wife beater shirt was a fat tub of lard that obviously didn't believe in either exercising or bathing regularly. For a moment she wondered what connection this slob of a man had with Xander and she got her answer a moment later.

"YOU FILTHY LITTLE SHIT! YOU GOT YOUR DINNER AN HOUR AGO!" The bum bellowed as he advanced on Xander, "I WORK MY ASS OF TO DO WHAT THE LAW SAYS A FATHER OUGHT TO DO FOR HIS SON AND YOU STILL TRY AND GET SOME MORE! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS FOR THIS!"

_**That's Xander's Dad!?!?!**_ She thought to herself as she tried to reconcile the slob walking towards the dining room with the teenage guy that looked like he could disappear into a crowd if he wanted.

She didn't have much time to contemplate that revelation further because, a second later, the elder Harris grabbed a dish that had been left on the kitchen counter and threw it at Xander. The Loser managed to get out of the way in time and was heading for the backyard, probably to make a break for it, but only got about three quarters of the way there before his dad caught him. At that moment she expected the slob to drag his son back into the house for more abuse but instead the slob threw his son **crashing** through the glass door leading to the backyard. Obviously knocked silly by the act, the Loser took a while to get to his feet but that was enough time for the slob to grab a frying pan from the kitchen counter and follow him out.

It only took two minutes of seeing the slob beating Xander with the frying pan for her to want to leave and never come back. Fortunately Harmony felt the same way and, without a word, the two of them slipped away as quietly as they could while avoiding the trash that would mess up their outfits. While they felt triumphant at getting what they came for, she had to admit she felt kinda bad for Xander Harris. Sure he was a freak and all, but to have to live with a disgusting, abusive slob like that day in and day out wasn't something she'd wish on anyone. Still, it wasn't her problem and with any luck the slob would become one of those missing people she'd heard about and the Loser might finally be cut some slack by the world.

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Sunnydale High School, Halloween Day, Noon-ish, Hallway 

_I can't __**BELIEVE**__ she did __**THAT!**_ He thought to himself as he walked down the hallways of the school away from the Student lounge.

While there was a ten percent piece of him that understood how it must have looked to the blonde Slayer, the remaining ninety percent of him was fuming mad at how she had just changed him from 'Loser Harris' to 'Loser-Harris-who-needs-a-girl-to-rescue-him'. It had all started with him getting up from one of the couches in the student lounge to get a can of Pepsi to drink only to run into Larry the Cave Man. Despite the difference in size, muscle mass and intelligence, he had stood his ground while the football player had asked about his chances of getting a date with Buffy. Naturally his mouth got the better of him and it only got worse when Larry had implied that the blonde Slayer was a woman of loose virtues or proficient in doing the splits for guys on command. He had taken great offense to someone thinking that about one of his friends and did his best to give the athlete a piece of his mind.

A little difficult given the height and muscle difference between the two of them you might think.

Still, he had done it and had been seconds away from being pummeled by Larry, something he wouldn't have minded since he got mucho manliness points for trying, when Buffy had decided to intervene on his behalf. Now it wouldn't have been so bad if she had just told Larry off using her own unique vocabulary but she actually had the audacity to manhandle the linebacker in front of everyone. Needless to say he knew that he was going to have to work double time from here until graduation if he was going to leave this school with a respectable reputation.

Grumbling as he went down the hall, he was caught completely off guard when two sets of arms exploded from inside of the stairwell leading to the roof of the school and dragged him in. Normally he would have been strong enough to resist, he knew he was stronger than his assailants the second the started the yanking, but his arms were still sore from what Tony had done to him last night. So he decided it would be less trouble to find out what his abductors wanted than to force his way free. Besides it was broad daylight, so he didn't think he had anything demonic to worry about.

To say that he was surprised to find that his attackers were Harmony and Aura would be the mother of all understatements.

"O-kay! Now I know you two probably like it rough but you mind telling me why you yanked me in here?" He asked with a little annoyance in his voice since he personally hated their type of student.

"Always the first with a pathetic quip, eh, Harris?" Harmony asked rhetorically, completely unaffected by his comment about her preferred method of passing her classes, "Too bad they're about the same quality as your clothes."

"If by that you mean tried and true classics then I'd have to agree with you." He replied even while knowing that her question had not been asked with an answer in mind, "Seriously, though, what's with the sneaky stairwell meeting?"

"Well Harris you have been causing problems for Cordy, you and your freak friends, and that is going to stop as of **NOW!**" Harmony replied, trying to put her best high and mighty attitude on, "From this day forward you will do everything you can to make sure that Cordelia doesn't spent so much as a minute of time with you or your loser friends. If she tries you will give the cold shoulder or insult her until she leaves. Understood?"

_What does she think I am?! Her pet!?_ He thought angrily to himself after hearing Harmony order him like he was her servant or something.

"If you have a problem with Cordy talking to me and my friends then why don't you take it up with her instead of bothering me?" He asked snarkily as he let the two airheads know exactly what he thought of the orders he'd been given.

"Because, **moron,** Cordy is above us socially so we can't challenge her decisions without beaucoup evidence!" Aura replied pointing out one of the rules of social status at Sunnydale High School, "So if we can't talk her into changing her ways, we're going to force her to see why freaks and the rich don't mix."

"Which is why you're going to wear this tonight when you take those brats around trick-or-treating." Harmony said as she took a large bag from the third step of the staircase leading to the roof and handed it to him, "We want you to wear it in plain view of everyone with nothing to cover it up or hide it. If you do it from the moment you show up to get your group of brats to the moment you bring them back then we shall consider it a job well done."

While he was tempted to just throw the bag back in their faces, curiosity go the better of him and egged him on to open the bag and see what costume they had picked out for him. Looking inside he saw a lot of green spandex with a little black in it along with really long golden boots and gloves as well. There was also a long bright red wig inside the bag and for a moment he tried to picture what this costume would look like once it was all put on. The image he came up with looked familiar but for the life of him he couldn't figure out who exactly he was supposed to be. However when he shook the bag to see if there was anything he was missing a piece of the green cloth that had until then covered up the bulk of the black parts shifted and he saw one mother of a clue. It was golden in color and shaped to resemble a bird of prey with outstretched wings and set on top of the black plunging neckline of the costume. With that piece of information it all came together and he knew who Harmony and Aura wanted him to dress up as for Halloween tonight.

Jean Grey, aka Phoenix.

"This had better be an attempt at a funny, girls, because there's no way in **HELL** I'd be caught dead **or** alive wearing this in front of **anyone**!" He said, showing his adamant refusal to do something that would make him the laughing stock of the school, if not Sunnydale itself.

"Yes, **you WILL**. Otherwise I'll have a couple people I know broadcast this all over Sunnydale for everyone to see." Harmony said as she pulled out a camcorder and tilted the small screen on the side in his direction.

For a moment all he saw was blue but that quickly changed to show a backyard he recognized all too well as his own. It was nighttime in the footage and for a moment he wondered if they were trying to blackmail him with how unkempt his backyard was but then the recording zoomed in on the dining room. From there events in the recording played out exactly as they had last night when he had made himself a second dinner to make up for the one his mom had botched in her drunken stupor. He had been certain at the time that both his parents would be out cold in the living room until he had finished eating and put everything in the sink. However something must have woken Tony up and from there it was just another typical episode of 'beating on Xander' with his fat slob of a father kicking his ass for actually wanting a decent meal for a change. He had thought that there had been nobody watching them since he'd been beaten off and on for years and no one claimed to have seen anything. Apparently, though, the Fates were tired of this and had decided to spice things up a bit at his expense by prodding Aura and Harmony to do something intelligent for a change. His reaction to this was one of anger and a desire to vent some of this anger at the two who had dared to use his misfortune against him but he forced himself to settle for grabbing the camera and throwing it at the nearest wall. He watched with some satisfaction as the mechanical device shattered into a million pieces destroying their blackmail material with it. However when he looked back at the two to gloat at how their plan had fallen apart he was puzzled to find that they were just smiling smugly at him.

"Thanks Harris! You just destroyed the one piece of evidence linking us to this entire scheme but don't think that this means you're in the clear." Harmony said clearly reveling in her perceived brilliance and foresight, "What you destroyed was just what was in the camera. I made six copies of that little show of your dad's and unless you do as you're told, I'll make sure that everyone in Sunnydale knows about it."

He didn't know whether or not he should believe the blonde ditz, but if she was telling the truth then he was definitely in a 'damned-if-I-do-and-damned-if-I-don't' scenario. If he did what they told him to do, people would either think he was gay or a cross dresser, both of which would make him even more of an outcast amongst his peers than he was now. Even Buffy and Willow would probably start having second thoughts about him, at least in terms of what went on inside his head if nothing else. However if he didn't do what these two were ordering him to do, everyone would find out that he had at least one abusive parent that beat him on a regular basis, and that would cause everyone to either see him as a perfect example of pitiful or some kind of charity case to be coddled. That was one thing he knew he wouldn't be able to take in the end because while he might not be a brain like Willow or a jock like Larry, people still saw him as being an average guy for the most part. That was something he had accepted and oddly found he could live with despite the fact that most people wanted nothing more than to be above average.

So in the end there was really only one choice he could make.

Grabbing the bag viciously, he spared one moment to direct a hate filled glare at the two sluts before turning around and stomping out into the hallway.

He'd get his revenge on those two and when he did he would make sure that they wouldn't be able to show their faces at Sunnydale High School for **six MONTHS**.

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Later That Day, 4:05p.m, Approaching the Student Lounge of Sunnydale High School 

_I am __**SO**__ gonna get those two skanks for this!_ He thought to himself as he walked down the hallway to where Snyder said they would be picking up their groups of brats.

Every step he took, every time he felt the wig shift as much as the clasps would let it, he swore he'd get even with the two bimbos that were forcing him to humiliate himself in front of everyone. The only thing that kept him from defying them was the fact that he would prefer that people saw him as a freak than a charity case. At least as a freak he'd still have Buffy and the gang to hang out with later once he told them why he had to dress up like a girl. After all Harmony's little scheme didn't say anything about telling his friends the truth after he went through with this humiliation. Once they knew the truth the Scooby's could unite and work on a plan to get all the copies of the damaging footage destroyed. Then his plans of revenge would start and by the time he was done the airhead blonde and her Asian friend would wish they'd never set eyes on him.

Until then… until then he would just have to endure what was to come as best he could until he got the kids back to the school to drop them off. He was sure that when that happened he could finally get back into some guy clothes and leave the whole embarrassing incident behind him. After all Harmony and Aura couldn't possibly intend for him to wear this costume **all night** could they?

As he reached the student lounge he saw that his hope of only being seen by a few of his fellow classmates held true for the most part but those few were the very ones he had hoped would be long gone by the time he arrived. To the far left stood Willow and Buffy who had apparently decided to stick around and wait for him to arrive before taking their groups out for trick-or-treating. When they laid eyes on him he had no doubt that they were shocked almost to the point of fainting and would probably stick close to him and his group the entire night trying to get answers. Right in front of him was Snyder who he knew was mentally signing him up for three month's detention at **least** for showing up dressed as he was. At this point he figured whatever dust mote of respect the little troll might have had for him had just met its end. To the far right was Cordy and the Cordettes and he could tell with just a glance that if blowing Queen C's mind and driving her away from him had been the goal of the two sluts they had just made serious progress.

"Congratulations Harris! Just when I thought you couldn't stoop any lower you go and prove me wrong!" Snyder growled in disgust as herded a group of six kids towards him with each brat looking at him like he was a freak of nature, "Luckily, if what I've heard about these six brats is true, you're in good company with this bunch. Leave with them now and be back by six. Keep the conversation to a minimum or else by the time you graduate **they** will be graduating as well!"

"Yes sir." Was all he was able to get out and still be respectful to the little troll that was the bane of the entire student body of Sunnydale High School.

With that exchange of words done Snyder quickly walked away exhibiting his usual desire to be anywhere where there were no teenagers. Looking down at the group he'd been given he decided that the sooner they got going the sooner six in the evening would come and he could ditch this costume of embarrassment. However just as he and his group of six began to head for the nearest exit the two sluts decided to make a point of making sure Cordy got an up close and personal look at him.

"What the **HELL** made you dress up like that Harris? I used to think you were just some deadbeat loser but I never thought you were this much of a **freak**!" Cordy exclaimed clearly wanting some kind of explanation for his choice in costume.

He was about to tell her exactly what happened in the hopes that her rank would allow her to force Harmony and Aura to relinquish the tapes but a reminder from Aura in the form of a cassette from a camcorder waved in the air stopped him. While Cordy might have the social power to force it out of them that would only work if she **believed** him when he said that Harmony and Aura were blackmailing him. Unfortunately if it wasn't demon or supernatural related Queen C was not likely to believe him if he told her that two of her sheep were doing something behind her back. As far as Cordelia was concerned her word was law to her Cordettes and none of them would even think of stepping out of line.

"None of your business, Chase." He replied before putting extra emphasis on getting his group of six kids out the door before anyone else asked him that question.

He could only imagine the shock that must have been on Cordy's face at the moment and how Harmony was probably using to her advantage to persuade Queen C never to have anything to do with the Scoobies ever again. If those two twits only knew that the real reason Cordy stuck close to them was because the gang kept her informed about possible threats to her survival the Cordettes as a whole would probably attend meetings. Unfortunately with Cordelia no doubt wanting to maintain her position of superiority there was no way she was going to start talking demons to her followers and without backing like that the socialites would never believe anyone else.

He was about halfway to the sidewalk outside the wall surrounding the school when he heard the pitter-patter of twenty-eight feet with four of those feet being the right weight to them to be Buffy and Willow. Deciding that he didn't want to answer the same question again, not with the risk of someone running back to Harmony or Aura, he did his best to get the kids in his group to pick up the pace. Unfortunately their legs were too short and any faster and they'd be running which apparently they didn't like doing because some pushy grown-up was forcing them to. So by the time he actually reached the front gate both of his friends had caught up to him with Buffy using both her body and the bodies of the kids in her group to block off possible escape routes.

"Xander. Explain." Buffy demanded in that imperious tone she usually used when someone questioned a course of action she'd suggested.

Normally he'd give in and explain like he usually did, after all she was the leader and hero of the team, but in this case he knew he couldn't. Still he knew he had to give her something or else he'd never get these kids anywhere.

"Later. Not now but I'll explain later." He said with pleading eyes hoping she would be satisfied with a delayed explanation promise.

For a moment it looked like she might press the issue but with a sharp nod she stepped out of the way and motioned for the kids in her group to do the same. As he walked by he wondered why Willow wasn't making a fuss but looking into her eyes he could almost believe she understood that he hadn't chosen the costume nor wore it willingly. It was an understanding born of knowing each other for almost their entire lives and not for the first time he was glad it was there. He knew the redheaded genius would still want a full explanation later along with Buffy but she was willing to wait and he appreciated it.

With that done he began the long and difficult process of shepherding the kids from house to house while doing his best not to let the people inside get a good look at his face.

_No sense in making more people see me as a freak then absolutely necessary. _He thought for the hundredth time as he vowed divine retribution on Aura and Harmony **BOTH**.

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One Hour Later, Outside 3200 Pennsylvania Lane 

_Well I think I can count on never being treated kindly in this town again!_ He thought to himself angrily as he caught yet another scornful look from one of the residents of Pennsylvania Lane.

It had been like this off and on since the first house and while only about a third of the people in them probably recognized him as Alexander Harris he knew word would spread quickly enough. By this time tomorrow everyone would think he was either gay or a cross dresser and while America as a whole was more open to such ways of life than other countries it was still something people could use to justify treating you badly. In the end it'd just mean he had the entire town of Sunnydale to convince he was a normal guy rather than just the students at Sunnydale High School. That meant doing manly things and acting more like those macho jocks right up until graduation in a year and a half in order to repair the damage to his reputation. It **PISSED** him off to no **END** what he was being forced to do just to keep word from getting out that he had two drunken abusive slobs for parents. However he kept reminding himself that it was much easier to repair a reputation from a single calamity than something that wouldn't go away at all. A single night of dressing like a girl could be recovered from but an exposed home life would stay with him no matter what. So in the end all he could do was grind his teeth and endure the remaining hour before he could toss this costume in the nearest open flame he could find.

_It's times like this that I wish I could just get a fresh start at life and start all over again._ He thought to himself as he followed his group of kids to the next house, _Anything would be better than being looked like that!_

If he had been thinking clearer he would have realized that that wasn't the sort of thing you said lightly when your town rested on top of a Hellmouth.

Alas his mind wasn't given the time to realize that as less than a second later he was hit full force by the chaos spell unleashed by one Ethan Rayne less than two seconds earlier. Now to those that had access to the multitude of alternate realities that existed, it would seem odd that Xander would be affected by the spell when he himself had never gone to the new costume store 'Ethan's'. However, upon closer inspection, they would discover that while most of the costume had been acquired at Party Town the clasp part of the golden sash around his waist had been broken when it had been purchased. Therefore both Harmony and Aura had been forced to look for a replacement and had managed to find one at 'Ethan's' and even managed to get it at discount. With that one item added to an otherwise magic free costume, Xander became ensnared in the same spell as everyone else who had bought something from one Ethan Rayne.

However, unlike the others, the changes that Xander would go through were of a far more flashy and dramatic nature. Gasping in pain as sensations of being burned alive filled his being, Xander Harris dropped to one knee as his natural body resisted the changes being force upon it. Sadly, flesh has only the strength of instinct to draw upon and against such a potent spell guided by such a devious mind, its defenses were soon obliterated. More and more the power overwhelmed him until he could contain what he was feeling no more and let loose a scream out into the night that caught the attention of all who heard it. What none of them expected, though, was that about halfway through the scream it began to change and take on distinctly more feminine qualities until it was a woman's voice instead of one belonging to a man. However it was then that the biggest shock of all happened because, without any warning at all, a pillar of unearthly flame shot into the sky higher than the tallest man made structure. Second upon second passed with no sign that the column of flame would disperse and then in a move unprecedented the flame began to take shape.

It was the shape of a bird of prey.

To those who knew it, though, it was the shape of the Phoenix.

With an avian cry touched with a mix of power and godliness, it spread its wings as far as they would go. It cried to let the whole world and all neighboring layers of existence know that it was there and was there to stay.

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Hollywood, The Set of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Same Time 

"What?" Was all he could say as a feeling of power washed over his senses completely capturing his attention the moment it hit him.

However that it turned out was the exact wrong moment to let his attention drift because, a second later, a plastic sword with tracer balls taped up and down it struck him in the head. While it didn't hurt him, years of practice and experience had him behaving as though it had as he stumbled back a bit with an expression of pain on his face. This, of course, had the motion capture director to call for an end to the cut since it would hardly do for the purposes of capturing his movements for the videogame they were making. The director barked a few orders about taking a break but made it clear that every member of the team had to be back in fifteen minutes 'or else'. With that done, the man in charge walked up to him with a look bordering on annoyance and that was understandable, given the hour as well as how difficult it was to do this kind of work. He did his best to put on a sheepish regretful face knowing he would have to come up with some kind of credible reason why he had been distracted since the truth wouldn't work.

"Care to explain that little slip up, Kevin?" Mr. Carson asked in a tone that he would accept just about any excuse so long as it was reasonable enough, "You know we're behind schedule as it is and only have another month and a half before this has to be on the store shelves."

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, it's just I received a call from Lucy last night and she sounded a little off." He replied using a fellow star as the foundation for his excuse, "I tried to get her to tell me what it was but she dodged the question every time. I've been trying to think of a way to get her to open up and just came up with one right before Jason hit me with that piece of plastic."

A light of understanding and compassion entered the eyes of the director nodded in understanding since it was pretty common knowledge that the two actors had developed a strong friendship, given how often they worked together.

"Okay. Just try to keep your mind on the job from here on out, okay." Mr. Carson said before walking off to bark orders at the rest of the crew.

_I'll do my best. _He thought although with what he was feeling it would not be easy.

After all, the power he was feeling through his demi-god senses was like a warm light beeing directed at the back of his head. It had been years since he had last felt anything that came anywhere near to this level of power and, each time he had felt something like it, a time of change always followed. He made a mental note to get in contact with his half-sister to see if she knew anything as well as a few 'old friends' who had recently popped back into the world recently. Only if things got really desperate would he even consider asking Ares for any help, since it had been only a few weeks since the jerk had crashed the trip to the forest the show's team had taken recently. While nothing serious had happened, it had still taken quite a bit of work to get the others to stop looking at him funny.

_Still, if things turn out to be as serious as I think it is I might have to start getting back in shape sooner rather than later._ He thought as he decided to go get a cup of juice before Mr. Carson put them all to work again.

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A Higher Realm of Existence, Same Time 

"Woah! What was **that**?!" He exclaimed as he tried to figure out what could have caused the mental environment around him to ripple so violently.

"Something that has not been in contact with the physical world for thousands of years, Daniel." Oma replied, sounding significantly worried and that was enough to cause him to get serious considering how tranquil the ascended being usually was.

"What is it?" He asked, curious about what could so disturb a being as powerful as Oma.

"A being that played a key role in the creation of all that is and will be. A being that caused many to become greatly concerned about the possible calamities that could arise should it remain in the mortal realm too long." Oma replied as her expression changed to one of searching and analyzing, "Worry became fear and an unprecedented alliance was formed to cast the being out of this dimension as well as neutralize any means by which it might one day return."

Daniel Jackson was not liking where this was going because if this being was big enough to cause such a massive alliance and undertaking, then its return was trouble with a capital T.

"Is there anything we can do?" He asked the being who had helped him ascend to the next level.

"Unfortunately this being is beyond the power of the Ancients and the others would not condone any intervention on our part." Oma replied with some frustration, implying that she didn't like being restrained as she was, "Forces are already on the move to deal with the cause of all this. All we can do is wait and hope that they are successful in once again casting out this embodiment of rebirth."

"What is this force? Does it have a name?" He asked hopeful for any information she could give him.

"It is called The Phoenix." Oma replied and, if one listened closely enough, one would be able to hear a faint tremor of true terror in her voice.

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Northern Scotland, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Same Time 

"_**Fear oh mortals, for the Phoenix once again soars through the sky. And if humanity is found unworthy, it will be burnt from the face of the earth, so that something new may rise from the ashes,**_" roared Professor Sybill Patricia Trelawney in an unearthly voice before passing out in her chair behind the professorial table. Suffice it to say that while the majority of the people in the dining hall never once believed that Trelawney really had any divination ability, despite that that was the class she taught, most were shocked at the legitimacy of what was being said.

Most thought that the only reason she was there was because she came from a rather illustrious family of seers and that brought a certain amount of good press to Hogwarts. This, of course, was due to the fact that she had made numerous predictions since she started at the school and, with the exception of perhaps one or two, none of them had come to pass. However the unearthly voice with which she had just yelled combined with the rather foreboding message made all freeze in place and wonder if this was one of the predictions that would in fact come to pass. This lasted for seconds at best before all but three people in the room went firmly into denial and used the woman's past failures to dispel any feelings they might have that this might be a real prophecy. For the three that did not do this, though, the prediction pretty much made their schedule for the next month for them and perhaps beyond.

For Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, he worried about what this could mean in the struggle against Tom since he harbored no illusions about whether nor not news of Professor Trelawney's prediction would reach the leader of the Death Eaters. If the Professor of divination had indeed made a genuine prophecy, it meant that an ancient power and been reborn into this world. While written records of it were few and far between, he had seen almost all of them and so had as good idea of how powerful this Phoenix truly was. If Voldemort got so much as a hint of this, he would almost certainly assign the majority of his forces to finding out where this power was and how it might be controlled. While Tom Riddle was powerful enough on his own, he was still afflicted with the same disease that all dark wizards suffered from and that was an insatiable thirst for more power. For the next month he would spend every spare moment he had attempting to gain a better understanding of this new factor and how it might be resolved in favor of the light.

For Hermione Granger, though, it started an itch in her head that always appeared whenever a topic caught her interest with a fury. While she too is among those that do not have a very high opinion of Professor Trelawney's divination abilities, the manner by which this prediction was delivered had her convinced that it needs at least to be looked into. Already her mind was making up a list of books to look through in the school library as well as concocting a feasible reason to borrow Harry's invisibility cloak just in case she needed to break into the restricted section. She wondered whether this 'Phoenix' was simply a larger version of Fawkes or if it was something else altogether. With a mental shake of her head, she settled on the position that it was definitely something much more impressive than a large phoenix bird. In the end, though, she was certain that she would find the truth fascinating and, if she was lucky, she might just be able to see it for herself.

For Draco Malfoy, though, it was just another sign of the old lady's dementia and he took it about as seriously as he took the Weasel. The woman was completely insane and if it had been up to him, he would have had her put down like the mad bitch she was years ago. However he could see it out of the corner of his eyes that that old fool Dumbledore was putting quite a bit of weight behind the madwoman's words and that made him pause for a moment. While most certainly a fool, the Headmaster was not stupid and if he was putting serious thought into the matter, then maybe he should as well. When he had the opportunity he would owl his father about this and ask for further instructions about how to proceed: if this turned out to be important enough, it could turn out to be a great opportunity to gain some value in his father's eyes and maybe even a little respect. While it would also earn him some early prestige among the Death Eaters, he was a little less than excited about that since he didn't share his father's fanatic devotion to Voldemort. To him, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was nothing more than an out of date madman whose only value to the Malfoy family was as a potential stepping-stone to even greater heights of wealth and power. However should the snake man prove to be more trouble than he was worth, he would do everything he could to sever ties with the abomination, even if it meant defecting to the other side if things became intolerable for him.

It was in these moments that the roles that Hogwarts would play in the coming years were set and they would bring about changes in the Wizarding world that would not conclude for years to come.

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Sunnydale, California, U.S.A, One Minute Later 

Confusion.

Disorientation.

Concern.

Those were the sensations that first came to mind as Jean Grey's mind finally settled from whatever had thrown it into chaos. As she reigned in the power of the Phoenix that had been explosively been released in an attempt to thwart whoever or whatever had attacked, she tried to figure out what had happened. However her thoughts are muddled and conflicting in more ways than one, presenting an endless collection of memories that as far as she can tell all belong to her. If she had to liken it to anything, she would say it was as if she now possessed the memories of every Jean Grey in every alternate reality within reach. With all the power of her mind, she tried to comprehend each memory and assign it an orderly place within her mind, but she is quickly overwhelmed by such a large task. Surrounded on all sides, it looked as though her mind would once again fall into the state of confusion and disorientation that it had been in moments before.

_Sorry Red, but if what's happened to me has happened to my friends, I need you coherent and mobile. _came a voice she didn't recognize but that still possessed strength enough to get her attention. _Worry about all the clutter later. Focus on the here and now._

_Logan?_ She asked mentally as she tried to find the source of the voice only to be surprised by the discovery that it was inside her own mind. Closing her eyes, she used her powers to journey inward to find this mind within her that did not belong there as far as she was concerned.

_HEY! While I appreciate the compliment about sounding like Mr.'The Best There Is At What I Do' Logan, this is __**MY**__ body and you're the one trespassing!_ Exclaimed an angry male voice that sounded like it was pointing a finger at her.

Once inside her mind, she found the young man who had yelled at her quickly and quickly 'flew' to his position so that they could talk 'face-to-face' so to speak. At first glance she could tell that he was like any other American teenager in looks but upon closer inspection she could see bits of Scott and Logan in him. He was definitely on his way to developing Wolverine's hairstyle and shared the loyalty that the Adamantium warrior possessed, however she sensed that this young man also possessed Scott's heart and, to a degree, his code of honor with only a few differences here and there. It was an odd combination but one she found she liked more than she probably should given the current situation.

Instead she chose to focus on his claim that she was inside **his** body instead of the other way around. Stretching out with her telepathic senses, she examined the psychic topography of the mind around her as well as the strength of the young man's connection to that mind. While she was able to find areas that did indeed belong to the boy, she also discovered that parts of her mind were gradually beginning to overcome and replace what belonged to him. It was almost as if someone was trying to fuse her with this body permanently and erase its native tenant completely. Reaching out with her powers, she began to forge psionic defenses around the areas that belonged to him, using her own willpower to force that essence that belonged to her to stop its advance. While she might not have known exactly what was going on at the moment, she refused to let her one possible source of information be destroyed until she had a better grip on things.

_Who are you?_ She asked mentally, since she figured introductions were the best way to start things off.

_Xander Harris and before you say it I know you're Jean Grey of the X-Men._ He replied with a smile and a set of briefly wandering eyes that were obviously taking in her psionic form.

_And how do you know that?_ She asked after causing her psionic form to before more mist like and formless so as to keep Xander's attention on the conversation rather than elsewhere.

_Well… ya see… in this reality, my reality, you're a fictional character._ He replied, as though not sure of how she would take such news, _You and your team have been featured in everything from cartoons to comic books to videogames and I hear that they're even thinking about putting a movie together in a few years._

It took her only a moment to tap into his memories and verify what he had told her as well as discover a few other… naughtier things… that she wasn't quite sure how to take. While she didn't sense any sort of disgusting lechery coming from Xander personally it was clear that some people spent a little too much time trying to put what they thought she and her fellow X-Women looked like without their uniforms to paper. Pushing such things aside, she could see no sign of forgery to falseness to the memories of the media involving herself and her team and since the comics depicted events, she knew no one had been eavesdropping on, she had no choice but to believe that she was not in her native reality. That, of course, led to the question of where exactly she was and how she had gotten here as well as how she could return to where she belonged. It took less than a second to convey these questions to Xander in the hopes that he might have some of the answers.

_Well considering we're in Sunnyhell and it's Halloween, I guess that it's related. I mean, unless you know of another way that somehow everyone's been magically transformed into whatever they were dressed up as, I'm all ears._ He replied with a thoughtful and contemplative look on his face.

_Magic? I suppose that's feasible. I know as an X-man it exists and after seeing some of the things that Dr. Strange has done, changing people into their costumes isn't too big of a stretch._ She thought as facts began to fall into place, _Wait! If everyone changed into whoever or whatever they were dressed up as then why were you dressed as me?_

_Um… well… I was… kinda… blackmailed into it._ He replied looking distinctly uncomfortable for a moment before regaining some composure, _But that's SO not important at the moment! We gotta find Buffy and Willow fast so we can figure out who's doing this FAST!_

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Xander was trying to change topics on her and divert attention away from why a young man like him would dress up as a woman. In the end she decided that she could shelve this particular discussion until later when it was more appropriate and they didn't have something more pressing to take care of. Returning to the physical world, she could see that while she had not been approached by anyone, there were several mini-demons that were watching her from an invisible perimeter about twenty meters in diameter. They probably sensed the power she possessed and were neither brave enough to come closer nor disinterested enough to stop looking at her. While she contemplated for the moment, reigning in all her power so as not to exude such a potent and distancing aura, she reconsidered when she took into account the possible benefits. It would keep the more dangerous transformed people away allowing an area of protection for both her and Xander's friends once they were found.

It was then when she sensed a psionic signature approaching and turned to see a redheaded young woman of about fifteen or sixteen years running towards them. She was wearing clothes that not even Betsy would wear and that was saying something, since neither 'shy' nor 'conservative' would ever be applied to the British X-Woman.

_It was Buffy's idea for her to dress like that._ Xander mentally said to her, _Willow's normally so shy and pretty much dresses in clothes a mother would approve of rather than what she wants to wear._ _Unfortunately it looks like Buff took her eyes off her at the wrong time and Willow put her usual ghost costume on before heading out. WAIT! If Willow dressed up as a ghost does that mean she's--! _

Immediately sensing her 'partner' beginning to rev up his worry engine, she stretched out with her senses to see if there was anything she could find to reassure him that his friend was not dead, even temporarily. It took a bit, but eventually she was able to perceive a thin connection of psychic energy linking the approaching form to someplace about five blocks away. Further examination revealed that Willow's body was still alive but it was as if her spirit had been displaced from her body by some force. The connection was strong enough to sustain the body but nowhere near enough to draw the spirit back into the body. The link between spirit and body seemed stable enough and contact with solid objects didn't seem to affect it any as she watched the shy redhead pass through a collection of trashcans. In a way this reminded her of Kitty and at that thought a glimpse of Xander's friend in a school setting confirmed that the young woman was just as technologically proficient as Shadowcat was.

"Xander…? Is that you?" She asked clearly uncertain with whom she was speaking with.

"Sort of, Willow. My name is Jean Grey and while he isn't in control of this body at the moment, he is inside it and can hear you." She said hoping to ease the young woman's discomfort, "However I am in control of it as long as the spell is in effect."

"O-okay. So how's it feel to be in a woman's body, Xander?" Willow asked once she got over the initial shock of her friend's mind being inside a woman's body.

"He says 'well it's giving me a serious case of the wiggins but at least I'm hot now'." Jean replied, smiling at the unintentional compliment on her appearance.

"That's Xander alright!" Willow said giggling at the familiar sense of humor of her best guy friend, "OH! We gotta find Buffy! Who knows what she'll be if she's turned into her costume."

"Well then let's get going. Once we find her we can start trying to figure out how to break this spell and get things back to normal." She said as she used her telekinetic abilities to lift herself a few feet of the ground, since it would allow her to move faster than her own feet would.

"I think I know where she was taking her group of kids before all this happened." Willow said before taking off in an easterly direction as fast as her intangible feet could carry her.

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Heading Towards the Industrial Sector of Sunnydale, Two Hours Later 

_Well it's nice to see that the X-Men aren't the only ones who lead interesting lives._ Jean thought as she flew above Willow, Cordelia and the vampire Angel as they moved to where Buffy had fled to.

While it was true that most of her attention remained on keeping Xander's friends (although he only connected Angel loosely with that term) safe and conferencing telepathically with their mentor Rupert Giles, she had also been asking him about Sunnydale. While still not able to safely access the other memories of hers without being overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, she was fairly certain that even in the case of alternate realities there should have been more heroes in this world. However, if Xander was right, then this world at best had only a handful of protectors capable of dealing with the supernatural and demonic threats that plagued the Earth. Add to that the appalling lack of resources Ruper Giles was forced to work with in order to train and aid Buffy and it was nothing short of a miracle to her that the world was still around. This was not to say that she believed that normal humans were incapable of dealing with the paranormal and the threat it sometimes posed. No, her belief was simply that there existed a limit to what a normal person could overcome, even if they were outfitted with the latest in technology. After all, back in the realities where the X-Men existed, the military was decades ahead of the armed forces of this world in terms of technology and still they needed help from those with special powers more often then not. For a world to exist with so few capable of meeting supernatural threats on an even battlefield…well let's just say she was **not** happy.

_Yeah, it's a rotten deal, but what can you do huh? _Xander thought at her from his place in their mind, _The world is what it is and there's not a whole lot that can be done about it. Besides it's still here and while there are a few more demons around, then I'd like at least the blue ball's still spinning._

_I guess._ She thought even though she still wasn't happy with it all.

Hearing a scream recognizable as Buffy's, she increased her speed and altitude in order to get to the source as quickly as possible. Mere seconds later she found the Slayer-turned-noblewoman being attacked by what looked like a pirate of some kind with lewd thoughts practically pulsing out of him. Disgusted, she began her descent and as she touched down between Buffy and the pirate, a casual sweep of her arm threw the filthy man was telekinetically thrown into the wall of the nearest warehouse. Seeing him slump down, she could feel that Xander was very happy about what she'd done and an inquiry revealed that the pirate was the local school bully who had harassed Xander many times before. Learning of this, she was tempted to do some psychic rewiring of the brute's mind to eliminate these bullying tendencies but her recalled lessons under the Professor stopped her. Even if she could make Larry into a better person by tampering with his mind, it would be wrong to violate another person's mind like that. She could hear Xander attempting to persuade her otherwise by pointing out all the misery she'd be keeping the bully from causing but she remained firm in her decision not to act.

"Are you alright?" She asked the still-frightened noblewoman, who was only now getting back to her feet.

"Y-yes. H-h-how did you do that?" Buffy asked, clearly indicating the display of telekinesis, "I-is it some kind of m-magic?"

"I suppose you could call it that." She replied, deciding that explaining the finer points of telekinetics and mutants would be useless to someone with an eighteenth century education.

By this time Angel, Cordelia and Willow had caught up with her but despite the fact that there was to visible sign of a threat, all of them looked distinctly afraid at the moment.

"We have to get inside someplace! NOW!" Willow exclaimed with fear as she looked over her shoulder at the entrance to the alley that they'd come from.

The reason for this appeared a few moments later in the form of a large group of demons led by a vampire Xander informed her was named Spike. Something of a notorious vampire who had once been a part of a group of vampires called the Scourge of Europe and had managed to kill two Slayers during his time as one of the undead. More facts drifted through her mind as Xander's accessing of his memories of the research session that took place after Spike's initial appearance allowed her to access them as well. By the time she had reviewed about half of them, she was both angry and sickened at what this **monster** had done in the past century or so. The people he had killed and sometimes tortured! Right then and there she made a decision that she would **NOT** be running from this creature and that before this night was done, she would send him screaming in terror back to hell! Firmly pushing the others out of her way, she moved well clear of them before taking up a position clearly saying 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS'.

"Well hello, cutie! While I enjoy lady in skin tight clothes as much as the next bloke, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to step aside." Spike said, making a show of taking in her figure, "Got me a Slayer I need to kill!"

"You won't be killing her or anyone else, **vampire!**" Jean spat out, making her feelings regarding Spike blatantly obvious.

"Oh? An' how do you plan on stoppin' me bint?" Spike asked, his lewd appreciation of her beauty turning to annoyance.

"Like this!" She replied and, with a mere thought, she gripped all of the enemies with her telekinetic abilities and lifted them ten feet off the ground.

Suddenly deprived of solid footing, it was no surprise that most of the demons and transformed children began to feel a distinct drop in their confidence levels. A handful of them, Spike included, did their best to put on a good show and make it appear as though this was but a minor setback, but her telepathy told her that the 'brave' ones were just as unsettled as the rest of them. While it was revolting to delve into the thoughts of those caught in her grip, it did help her to separate those changed by the spell from those that were born demons. With the innocents singled out, she released them from her grip and let them drop to the ground with little more than bruises to show for it.

"I will let you bunch go, but I suggest you get out my sight before I change my mind." She said to those she had released making sure they understood that 'a change of heart' was a very real possibility.

It took those released from her telekinetic grip less than a minute to take her advice and make a run for it.

"Oi! Come on now, pet! I'm sure we can cut a deal of some kind!" Spike cried out once he pieced together that with those that were to be spared gone it was probably time to deal with those that would not be spared.

"Did you allow those Slayers you killed to cut a deal, Spike? Did you let your multitude of victims cut a deal?! Would you have let **Buffy CUT A DEAL!!**" She asked rhetorically and with a vengeance, "I suppose that's the way you vampires think! Why bother valuing life when you've got so much of it to live out? Well I've got a question for you, Peroxide Boy: **DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU'D LIVE FOREVER!?!!?!?!**"

With those words she felt a familiar power well up within her, a power that was both hers and yet belonging to no one, and in a gush of fire the power took shape on the physical plane for all to see. While smaller than it had been the first time, it was no less awe inspiring to those that saw it and, for some, terror came with the awe. For the Scoobies who stood behind her, they had to wonder just how powerful the spell was that had transformed them into their costumes in order for it to manage something like this. For the demons and vampires still trapped in her telekinetic grip, they were filled with a terror unlike anything they had ever experienced in their long, malevolent lives. Standing before them was a force that outshined everything they knew, even the legends of the Old Ones didn't come close, and to have it directed at them was literally enough to make them wish they'd never been born.

For Jean Grey and Xander Harris though what they were experiencing could be summed up in one word.

GLORIOUS!!

With an unearthly avian cry, the flames of the Phoenix swept forward and engulfed its prey, burning them to their very demonic spirits. Their screams filled the area for blocks in every direction, letting all know what it meant to feel the wrath of the bird of flame. It took only ten seconds but to those that witnessed the sight firsthand, it seemed to take forever for the demons caught in her grip to finally perish. They fell to the floor of the alley as little more than a collection of dusty ash, leaving no clue as to who met their end here. It would have continued further had there been time, the Phoenix along with its hosts Jean and Xander would have spread out to exact their judgment on every demon in Sunnydale, however it was right at that moment that Rupert Giles threw the focus of the spell to the ground and shattered it. With this act, a chain reaction was brought about by which every person that had been changed by the spell was returned to who they had been beforehand. In another reality, some would remember bits and pieces of who they had been while the majority would only treat it like a half remembered dream as it faded from their mind. In the end, none of them would experience any lasting changes and would continue down the road of destiny that had been laid out for them.

In this reality, though, a loftier hand was at work and would set the stage for the Twilight of the Powers That Be and the Lords of Hell.

As both the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey sensed the spell coming to a swift end, it brought its power to its highest level and released a wave of energy that swept over the world like a tsunami. As it passed, it shattered the restraints and bindings that the Powers That Be and their allies had placed on the human race oh-so-long ago 'for their own good'. It awoke allies of humanity that had been forced into a perpetual state of sleep by the governing body of light when they opposed the restrictions being placed on humanity. In the end it would not matter if the Powers That Be restored those restrictions in an instant because the damage had already been done. For but a few seconds their grip on the planet Earth had been removed by force and the natural order had been allowed to make a move.

For one Alexander LaVelle Harris, though, who was at the epicenter of this wave of change, the change would be of a different sort than the removal of mystical restraints.

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They Alleyway, Industrial Sector, Sunnydale, California, Five Minutes Later 

_Ohhhhh! Note to self: next time someone forces me to dress up as a girl I make sure it's someone with super strength rather than mind powers._ He thought to himself as the disorientation from the end of the spell passed.

To say that he was a little out of whack at the moment would have been something of an understatement as it felt like his entire body was off by quite a bit. Strength that he should have felt in his limbs was half of what it should have been and his center of gravity was showing signs of being somewhat different than he remembered. As a result, it took him a couple of minutes to get to his feet and stay there without any sort of wobbling or instability. Once he did, though, he turned around to look to see if the gang was okay and found a rather unusual sight that told him that maybe Jean and The Phoenix had done some tinkering before they left. The first sign of this was the fact that Cordy's hair had gone from stylish to wild and, extending a little over a foot from between each knuckle of each hand, were three metallic blades that looked quite sharp. Next came Willow, who seemed to be caught up with trying to keep herself from ghosting through the ground to who knows where and only having partial luck. Next came Angel, who while looking the same for the most part now had red on black eyes who, aside from cursing in Cajun, also appeared to be human now with all vampiric aspects gone. Naturally the Xan-man was not happy with that, since it meant that the former Deadboy no longer had that keeping him from having a relationship with Buffy. As far as the blonde Slayer was concerned, though her skin had taken on a decidedly darker color that, while not exactly making her an African American, definitely made her look like she had gotten the perfect tan at the beach. Also her hair had gone from dirty blonde to extra-extra light golden in color to the point of almost being completely white. All this collectively sent a rather nasty chill down his spine as his Murphy filter and Hellmouth paranoia was able to come up with only one conclusion.

_Looks like the X-Men have come to Sunnydale! _He thought to himself with shock as the eyes of the gang finally fell on him.

Judging from the looks of shock on their faces, it was clear that he had undergone some changes as well and immediately began skimming through the best and worst case scenarios. In the best case side of things he could have wound up as Iceman because of their similar sense of humor, Warren Worthington the Third, which would explain the problem he was having with his center of gravity, or maybe the bouncing blue-eyed Beast. In the worst case scenario he could have would up as Nightcrawler, which was kind of a good bad thing with the looks and teleporting power, Mr. Sinister with the pale face and shark teeth or Apocalypse with the marker-made lips. While each set of powers would be cool, the looks would take some serious getting used to, as would the mental baggage that he just knew that'd probably come with it. Still, he was sure that with the help of his friends he'd find some way of managing and life would go on the same as always.

"Xander?" Willow asked, having finally managed (more or less) to stay solid and above ground.

"Yeah what is it, Wills?" He asked but the voice that it was asked with shocked him into complete speechlessness.

The voice that came out was definitely not the one he'd woken up with this morning and **was NOT MALE!** Testing his voice to make sure that he hadn't just imagined things, he made a few cursory noises but each one was distinctly missing the maleness factor he'd gotten used to over the past decade or so. In a flurry of panic, he looked about the alleyway for any sort of reflective surface, no matter how small it was, to confirm with his eyes what his ears were trying to convince him of. It took him a moment but eventually he was able to find the remains of a bathroom mirror leaning up against the side of one of the warehouses. Moving as fast as he could, without thinking to much about his current condition, he picked it up and after a moment taken to brace himself he brought the reflective surface up so he could see his face.

What he saw was the exact **OPPOSITE** of what he'd been praying for, since the face looking back at him was not his own but rather the real life version of Jean Grey. Sure, he looked like her at about his age but there was no way a comic book fanatic like him would be unable to take the images in the books and imagine the real life equivalent. After all, meeting her on a beach had been one of his earliest happy places once he stopped thinking of girls as cootie factories and started thinking of them as babes. At the moment, though, it was distinctly less of a happy and more of a 'nonononononononoNO' moment to find that he had now been changed into the real life equivalent of the redheaded X-Woman.

_This __**can NOT**__ be __**HAPPENING!**_ He thought to himself as he did his best to anchor himself firmly in the land of denial, _There's no way __**in HELL**__ that I can be stuck in a girl's body like this for the rest of my life!_

_I'm afraid that's the way it's going to be Xander._ Came a familiar voice and mind inside his head, _There are only a select few people capable of becoming avatars for the Phoenix Force and in order to dwell within you without destroying you it had to make some changes._

_Jean?_ He asked mentally having put a name to the voice in his head, _Please tell me that this is just temporary! Please tell me that once the Phoenix accomplishes whatever mission it's here for it'll turn me back!_

_I'm sorry, but I am as much in the dark about what the Phoenix wants in your reality as you are. I was only certain about why she changed your body because of my past experience with it._ Jean replied with her thoughts made of honesty, _I can only assume it allowed me to stay behind because it thought that you could use some help adjusting to the changes as well as some instruction in your new abilities._

To this there was only one thing Xander could say to accurately sum up his position after hearing this.

"Well **FUCK!!**"

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	20. The Phoenix Effect Part 2:Knight of

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material that appears in this drabble/short whatsoever. I make no money off of it and do not intend to in the future. They are the rightful property of their respective owners and associated companies.

Note: I still plan on making this a stand-by-itself fanfic but given how many people disliked where I left off with part one I decided to write a part two. As for when it will become it's own fanfic that will depend on how fast I can finish another of my in progress fanfics like my Rurouni Kenshin/BtVS crossover 'A Reborn Wanderer'.

The Phoenix Effect Part 2:Knight of the Goddess

Last time on 'The Phoenix Effect…

"That's enough playing around. Kill him now so we can deal with the rest of these traitors," Soifon ordered as she glanced at the battered form of the boy Hitsugaya had been assigned to take care of.

In her mind this was something that should have been done from the moment the boy had been brought before the Captains of the Gotei thirteen by that foul messenger of the Powers, Whistler. He was an abomination, an insult to the young woman who might have one day become a Shinigami herself, and should have been wiped from existence immediately. Only the authority of the Commander-General, who had decided to agree to the request of the Powers to take care of the boy, had kept her from slaying him on the spot. He was a mistake that should never have been allowed to come into being and his actions here today had proved that beyond a reasonable doubt. His actions, though, provided her with all the justification she needed for ordering his death and there was nothing the Powers could do to stop her.

"At once, Commander," replied the leader of the group that had responded to her summons.

"I… **unh**… think you should reconsider you guys." Spoke the boy as stood straighter and looked at her with an inner fire that had not been there a moment ago, "You're on the wrong side here, so don't throw your lives away over a mistake."

"Silence fool! The order has been given. You will die at our hands," said the leader of the Special Mobile Corps unit. "Accept it."

"Well I just got four words to say to that idea," the boy said and then, all at once, a crimson energy exploded out from him, enveloping his form and stretching out fifteen feet in every direction.

So strong was the energy that those who did not evade it in time were thrown back to the ground with parts of their uniform smoking, as if it had been touched by a flame. Not surprising because now that she looked at the crimson energy, it did seem to conform to the shape of fire as well as move like fire would. She wanted to believe that this was just some last desperate attempt by the monster before her to intimidate his enemies, but her ability to sense the spiritual pressure of others told her what she was seeing was real. Her subordinates in the Special Mobile Corps unit, though, were stubborn and refused to accept this display of energy in front of them believing it to only be a trick. Opening her mouth to order them all to keep their distance, she was just a second too late as five of them leapt towards the battered boy with weapons drawn. Unfortunately for them, the boy's words were there to fill the silence for her.

"**RISE AND BURN, AMATERASU!**" Alexander yelled and, with those words, scorching flames exploded outwards from where he stood and swept over everything in within twenty feet of him in a tsunami of fire.

The zanpakutō of Alexander Harris had been released to its shikai state and Soifon began to worry that anyone that made a mistake of underestimating him from this point on would not get the chance to make a second one.

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And now the continuation…

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The Execution Grounds, Xander's Perspective 

_Looks like I've finally shaken the ol' Harris luck!!_ He thought to himself as he felt the power thrum though his body and took in the changes in his zanpakutō.

Starting at the hilt, he noticed that the standard black and white color combo that was pretty much standard among this type of weapon was gone and in its place was a combination of yellows, oranges and reds in a surprisingly complex design. Next came the hilt guard that had changed from its usual oval shape into a stylized metal sun with the main part equal in diameter to a slightly large saucer. Made of shiny copper, it had metal spikes of 'flame' sticking out from the edges and each spike looked more than sharp enough to cut a person if they weren't careful where they placed their hand. The blade of the zanpakutō, which had not only doubled in both length and width, had also taken to glowing like a piece of metal fresh from a swordsmith's forge. However what was the most impressive change since he released Amaterasu to shikai level were the six comets of flame that stayed ten feet around him at all times, orbiting like an electron around a nucleus. These comets of flame weren't going particularly fast, in fact if one moved quickly enough, they could probably grab a hold of one, but instead of this making them look harmless, it instead made them look like predators circling around their prey. Judging from the looks on the faces of the various members of the Special Mobile Corps members, they were having a tough time getting a grip on the new situation. That led him to believe that perhaps his shikai was among the more unique ones among the shinigami and, if so, perhaps he could play that to his advantage.

"As you can see guys, it's a whole new ballgame now. With my zanpakutō released to shikai level, my power is back and better than ever before." He said making it sound like he had already won even though he was still uncertain in that area, "So I'll give you guys one more chance to back down before things get painful. After all, a good soldier knows when to fight and when to just go home. Make your choice."

Personally, he hoped that this display of power and the unexpected release of his sword to shikai level would be enough to cause them to doubt their ability to kill him. After all, while he may have managed to release his zanpakutō to shikai level, he still didn't quite know what it could do or how well he could control its powers. He didn't want to hurt these guys much and he certainly didn't want to kill them, but if they attacked he would defend himself. Looking at each member of the Special Mobile Corps unit in turn, he did his best to give them the 'attack me and you are making a BIG mistake' look. However, as he watched, each of them tighten their grip on their weapons he knew that by forcing them to make a choice he had also forced them to choose the most common choice for people in their line of work.

To be loyal and obedient to their commander above all other concerns or desires.

Less than two seconds after realizing that they were halfway to him both on the ground and leaping through the air forcing him to push all unnecessary thoughts to the side. The first to reach him was a short looking man with a kodachi in each hand and both thrusting forward to run him through. However the moment he desired that they be stopped before they could reach him two of the comets of flame shot away from their orbits to intercept the weapons. By the time they reached the halfway point, they had reformed into a pair of woman's hands and in an instant they were wrapped around the blades of the attacker. This stopped the enemy's attack in its tracks but the fun didn't stop there because, less than a second after clamping down on the kodachi, the heat from the hands was transmitted through the metal to the hilt, forcing the wielder to let go of his weapons. Not one to pass up an opening like that, he lunged forward with a roundhouse kick to the man's face like he'd seen Buffy do many times before. With surprising swiftness and power, he connected with his attack, sending the man sprawling to the ground dazed as well as disoriented. He had no time to think about this since it was then that two more of his attackers had arrived from above with daggers in their hands.

"DIE!!" They yelled with determination and killer intent in their eyes.

Whipping around to face them, he felt the presence of his zanpakutō's spirit guide his arms as they brought his blade up so that the tip of the blade was directed to where his eyes looked and the hilt was held near his the side of his head. Removing his right hand from the hilt he placed it right below the blade tip of the zanpakutō and watched as a ball of flame began to form.

_How are you doing this, Amaterasu?_ He asked mentally as he watched the orb of heat shine brighter and brighter.

_Normally I would have insisted that you learn these techniques on your own so that you would understand fully how they worked. _She replied as the approaching airborne enemies began to get a little **too** close, _However circumstances being what they are, I am willing to show you a few tricks earlier than intended._

_So what's this one called?_ He asked as anxiety caused by the approaching implements of death began to seep into his thoughts.

_RAY SHOT!_ She exclaimed in his head and with perfect timing the ball of flame that had been gathering above his right hand was launched like an arrow from a crossbow.

For a moment, though, he thought he was going to have to gripe to her about her aim, but just as it looked like the ray shot would pass between the two oncoming assassins, it split in two pierce both warriors through the wrists. As they cried out in pain he watched as their weapons were dropped out of reflex from the pain and fell to the dirt floor below. However this did nothing to change their trajectory or where they were going to touch down and that left him with two Special Mobile Corps members heading his way. Acting on instinct, he immediately reversed his grip on his sword and, when they were within range, he slammed the pommel of the zanpakutō into the jaw of the attacker on the right while using his sheath to strike a man's most sensitive spot. With a bit of satisfaction he smiled as both men went down with no sign that they'd be getting back to their feet anytime soon. Looking around, he was glad to see that the remaining seven members of the group that Captain Soifon had summoned had stopped their advance. He needed time to think of a more effective strategy for ending this before Miss Bitch decided to intervene herself and tear him limb from limb. He was under no illusions that even if he was somehow at Lieutenant level in terms of power, that he could take down a Captain. He was just planning to buy some time for either aid or divine intervention to come just in the nick of time and save his sorry ass. The remaining members of the enemy unit he could probably defeat but whether or not he could do so before their commander joined the battle was iffy.

_Any ideas, Amaterasu?_ He asked mentally as he made sure to keep all of his enemies in sight.

_Remember Xander. I am named after a sun goddess for a reason._ She replied in a way that implied that she wanted him to figure the next move out for himself, _What aspects of the sun can be used to your advantage?_

_This is a __**really**__ bad time for a science quiz, lady!_ He thought back at her as he began to see signs of a non-verbal planning session come to an end amongst his enemies, _We may have managed to catch the first three by surprise, but I don't think blind luck is going to save my ass this time!_

_Do not lose faith in yourself, Xander! You have always been stronger than you have thought yourself to be,_ Amaterasu thought to him with determination. _If your mind cannot supply you with an answer, then trust your instincts._

With a sigh of resignation, he decided to trust her judgment and began to review what he knew about the sun from science class back in high school. It wasn't much, considering he barely passed the class and never had expressed much interest in a job where know that sort of thing could be useful. Nevertheless, he tried and it was when he pictured the sun up close in the midst of a solar flare that he hit upon a possible move that he prayed he'd be able to passably perform. Picturing what he was about to do in his mind, he willed the energy flowing through his zanpakutō to the power level he wanted, causing it to glow distinctly brighter than before. Seeing this, his enemies tensed for a brief moment in anticipation of what might happen and it was this moment that he took full advantage of when he stabbed the blade of his sword into the ground.

"RISING FLARE!!" He yelled as he willed with all his might to have the energy he'd just released do what he wanted it to do.

With barely three seconds of trembling earth, his willpower came through in spades as columns of flame erupted from the dirt beneath all seven of the remaining members of the Special Mobile Corps. While three of the swifter among the group were smart enough to evade the attack, the remaining four were enveloped inside the columns of fire, subjecting them to heat potent enough that it turned half their clothes to ash. Fortunately his columns only lasted for three or four seconds, otherwise he'd find out a little more than he wanted to about his opponents. What probably surprised the ones that managed to escape the fire columns was that their comrades were more or less untouched physically with nothing more than a nasty sunburn on the surface. Beneath the surface, however, was another story, since it had taken almost all his focus and willpower to control his attack to this degree, but his determination not to irreparably harm someone made it his only move. For beneath the surface of each man caught within the flames, their total volume of water had dropped significantly and bestowed upon them a nasty case of severe dehydration. This would leave the four of them weak as kittens until they replenished their fluids in some fashion and that meant the number of enemies he had to face was now four, if he included Captain Soifon.

Turning to his remaining adversaries, he decided he'd make the offer of letting them throw in the towel one more time. Now that they knew what he was capable of in a fight, perhaps they'd be more inclined to backing off than they were before.

"So what's it gonna be, guys and gal?" He asked as he extracted his zanpakutō from the earth and placed it in a relaxed ready position, "We gonna pack it in an' go home or do I have to make the rest of you eat dirt?"

"It is you who will be tasting the dirt, abomination," Soifon stated before using some unfamiliar hand gesture.

In an instant both the remaining three members of the Special Mobile Corps unit and their fallen comrades vanished in a blur of motion, leaving only him and Soifon standing on the battlefield. Contrary to what most would think, this was **NOT** a good thing since he was pretty sure it didn't mean that he'd won or that the enemy was afraid of him. No, he was pretty sure that this meant that Miss Eternal PMS was planning on finishing him off herself and had merely wanted room to work her magic. Considering that she was the leader of the group that specialized in assassinations and executions, he was pretty sure he didn't want to see what she was capable when cutting loose, mostly because it would reverse the situation he'd been happy about in, which his enemies didn't know exactly what he was capable of beyond the obvious. Now it would be him without vital knowledge of what Soifon was capable of beyond the basics that every captain in the Gotei 13 divisions. He knew that she'd likely be capable of shunpo, or flash step, which would mean she could go from being a football field's distance away from him to kicking him in the back of the head in an instant. Captains also knew the majority of the demon arts spells, both the Ways of Destruction as well as the Ways of Binding. Fortunately for him, though, only three or four of them could execute such spells effectively without saying the entire incantation. While it was true that he had made some headway in learning the basics of both, he was still not skilled enough in either to use them competently in battle despite his earlier success with geki and sōkatsui.

_In short: I am __**SO screwed!**_ He thought even as he brought his zanpakutō up into a stronger defensive stance, _Still, it'll be a cold day in __**hell**__ before I go down without a fight!!_

"Then let's get to it, Captain Soifon, 'cause I ain't getting any younger and listening to you definitely is not getting any more pleasant!" He said with fire in his voice and determination in his eyes.

It happened in an instant, but one minute she was standing a few feet away from him with zanpakutō in hand and the next she was gone. He didn't even bother to think before he willed all six of the flame comets to converge behind him to protect his back while he used his own sword to protect his head. Definitely a smart move since, a fraction of a second after both tools were in position, he felt a blow strike his convergence of flame comets with enough force to rattle his teeth. Dropping to the ground, he executed a leg sweep in the hopes of taking Soifon's feet out from under her so he could put a few feet between the two of them, but all his leg hit was air. It was a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye that saved him next and while he was able to use his katana to parry the captain's thrust away from vital spots, it still sliced open his right arm.

Deciding that giving her both time and room to manoeuvre was a **very** bad idea, he decided to keep things in close, where he could at the very least keep an eye on her. When she took a step back to prepare for another assault, he followed her every move to keep his blade locked with hers. Thrusting his knee up towards her stomach, he hoped to be able to knock some of the wind out of her sails, but apparently she was the master to his amateur in this area since she easily blocked his attack with her own knee. He had only a moment to contemplate this before something powerful slammed into the side of his head, sending him to the ground in pain. His eyes were a bit of a mess at this point, but he thought he saw Soifon lowering her leg from a high kick position telling him it had been her that had hit him. It turned out to be the first of several hits, since the moment he gained solid enough footing to even **begin** standing up, something slammed into his side, sending him rolling along the dirt floor almost fifty yards. A flash of reflected sunlight alerted him to the second attack almost a half second too late, but as it was he had enough warning so that instead of piercing his heart, Soifon's blade pierced his left shoulder. Biting his lip in order to keep from crying out in pain, he looked into the eyes of his attacker with nothing but defiance and courage in his eyes.

"This is how it will end, abomination, how it was always meant to end, with the removal of something that never should have been allowed to exist in the first place." She said with deadly confidence before twisting her blade viciously, "Do not worry, though. Co-lieutenants Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentarō Kotsubaki will be joining you shortly in oblivion."

_N-not of the g-good!_ He thought as he did the best he could to block out the pain that was coming from his left shoulder, _She's got me dead to rights and I haven't so much as scratched her! Either I come up with a miracle or I get to find out if there really is a place for shinigami to go when they die._

Fortunately, though, the divine intervention he had hoped for earlier decided to make an appearance less than a second later as Soifon was gone and so was her zanpakutō. This was sort of a good thing / bad thing outcome since, on the one hand, it meant he wouldn't die, but on the other hand removing the blade that fast hurt like a sonuvabitch. Gritting his teeth, he looked down at the wound to inspect its severity and was met with another good-bad situation, since while the damage wasn't bad enough to render his left arm completely useless, something important had been cut, which was causing a lot of blood to pour out. It didn't take a genius to know that unless something is done to stop the bleeding, the chances of him surviving until he can receive proper medical treatment was slim. So he decided to do the only thing he can think of to stop it and does it without hesitation.

He pressed the heated blade of his zanpakutō to the wound and cauterizes it.

"AAAARRRGGHHH!!" He cried as the pain was finally sufficient to make it past his control.

However the move worked for, after removing the blade from his left shoulder, he was satisfied enough by what he saw that bleeding to death is nor longer a concern. Nevertheless, the pounding he received from Soifon combined the energy expended on her subordinates was enough that conserving what was left would definitely be a good idea. Fortunately it took only a thought to cause his zanpakutō to revert to its sealed state, allowing him to slide it back into its sheath and tucking it beneath his belt. Getting to his feet was a little more difficult than he would have liked, thanks to the bruise in his side courtesy of Soifon, but he managed to do it just the same. Looking about the area, he could see that some time during his fight with the Special Mobile Corps and Miss I-Need-To-Get-Laid, the two co-lieutenants, as well as the three lieutenants that Ichigo had laid out, had been moved someplace else. Probably by Captain Unohana, since it was not only her job to take care of the wounded but also in keeping with her caring personality. Out of all the shinigami he'd met and talked with, he found that he liked her the most and sort of looked to her like he used to do with Joyce back in Sunnydale. With the people he'd been trying to protect gone, though, it left him with something of a dilemma as far as what to do next.

Fortunately a blast of spirit force powerful enough to almost knock him on his butt again told him exactly where he wanted to be.

Anywhere but **T****HERE!**

Getting himself where he wanted to be, though, was going to be tricky one way or another as he could determine only two possible ways of getting clear of the increasingly violent battle between Captain Kuchiki and Ichigo. The first was to follow Captain's Kyōraku and Ukitake's example by leaping off the cliff and using what he presumed was a variation of the sky treading technique to cushion their landing. He'd seen some of the other students at the academy perform the technique and had some measured success using it himself during training, however stepping off a tree branch and leaping off the edge of a very tall cliff were two very different things with the latter being potentially fatal if he screwed up.

The other would be to try and make it to the stairs he'd used to get up here before the execution began, but that would mean skirting dangerously close to the battle between Ichigo and the Ice Lord himself. Looking at the two of them going at it, he knew that if he went that route, he'd run the risk of getting caught up in their battle and that would be just as potentially fatal as leaping off the cliff. Looking back and forth, he tried to weigh the two options and figure out which one was more dangerous and most likely to kill him.

_Why can't it __**ever**__ be easy!?_ He yelled mentally before making a mad dash for the trees, beyond which would be the staircase leading down.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**The Rooftops of the Seireitei, Heading Towards the Central 46 Chambers, **_

Thirty Minutes Later 

_I swear! The very next thing I'm going to master is shunpo even if I have to clean out the sewers for a __**YEAR **__to convince Whitey to teach me how it's done___ He thought to himself as he watched the surface entrance to the Central 46 chambers getting larger in the distance.

It had been about half an hour since he had left the battlefield that was at this very moment being torn up by Ichigo and Captain Roboto and, while not out of breath or sweating too badly, it was enough to persuade him to up his training regime. Still, that would have to wait until after he caught up to Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto, both of whom he suspected were going to the top brass to alert them to the conspiracy in their midst. Ever since the first piece of unusualness showed up in the form of a non-Captain being punished by Sōkyoku, all three of them had felt something was wrong as the days passed and the date for the execution kept being moved up with no apparent reason given. While most did not think much of this, probably trusting that the governing body had its reasons, to them it only made everything look even stranger. Then the mess with Captain Aizen happened and Lieutenant Hinomori's mental breakdown only made Whitey even more determined to get to the bottom of all the odd occurrences. While he was not informed of all of the Captain's thoughts on the matter, nor what information the kid had uncovered, what he had been told was enough to make his brain itch. That itch had led him here, since a meeting with the Central 46 was the only thing he could think of that would necessitate him standing in for him and Rangiku at the execution.

As he reached the home stretch, a blur of motion catches his eye coming from the east, signifying someone using shunpo to move quickly. Thankfully, though, he wasn't even given enough time to be concerned, since at the precise moment between flash steps he is able to identify the blur as Captain Hitsugaya.

"Captain!!" He yelled out in order to catch the kid's attention and hopefully slow him down a bit.

While no longer using shunpo, Whitey was still moving at a fairly decent clip, forcing Xander to speed up considerably in order to catch up. Once he got close enough, he was able to get a good look at the young captain's face and it was enough to tell him everything he needed to know about the current situation. In all the time he had known the kid, his face had always been the picture of cool professionalism with the only emotion even gaining a partial grip on his face being boredom. However, at the moment, the look on his face was nothing less than a high level of concern for someone and a fear that he might already be too late. Seeing this, he didn't bother to ask the kid to slow down so he could catch up, but rather increased his own pace despite the fact that he would be a little winded when they arrived at their destination.

"Report, Xander," Hitsugaya ordered without breaking pace or looking in his direction as they dropped to the ground and entered the courtyard of the entrance to the Central 46 chambers.

Promptly and efficiently he summarized what happened at the execution grounds, who he felt was fighting who at the moment, as well as the reasons he had for coming here. To this all, Whitey did was nod in acknowledgment of the facts as they leapt through a hole made in the front door and proceeded down the numerous steps towards the main conference hall of the Central 46. However, when they reached the level where the bridge to the chambers existed, he was surprised to see Hitsugaya go right past it and proceed even deeper into the building. This puzzled him but he still trusted the kid enough to follow his lead and so they went down the numerous staircases, clearing a few of them in one leap when possible. It took a while but eventually they reached the bottom and entered a chamber filled with column-like buildings that kinda looked like weird cabins. He assumed that this was where the members of the Central 46 stayed for security reasons between meetings. However as he looked at the one directly across from the entrance to the chamber, he saw two people who should not have been there and one that was supposed to be 'dead'.

Sōsuke Aizen and Ichimaru Gin.

"Hello Hitsugaya-kun and… Xander isn't it?" Aizen said as though the two pairs had just stumbled across each other during a leisurely walk through a park.

"Lookin' pretty lively for a dead guy, Aizen," he said, making it clear how he saw the alive-again shinigami. "Then again, I had a feeling you were still around breathing somewhere."

"Oh?" Was all Aizen said in response.

"Yeah. While I might not have had access to either the 'crime scene' or been able to get a good enough look at the 'body', I was able to learn enough from those who had to tell that something fishy was going on." He replied as he casually moved to a more favourable tactical position, "For one thing, the serious lack of battle damage both at the scene of the crime and the surrounding area was odd to me. Even with surprise on one's side, a battle between two captains would have made a bigger mess both in terms of blood spatter and structural damage. Another thing that struck me as odd was the way you 'died'."

"Oh? What would that have been?" Aizen asked as though he was genuinely interested in the flaws that had been found in his deception.

"According to what I heard from Captain Unohana, you were 'killed' via impalement a good twenty feet up on a wall with your own zanpakutō. Considering you're a captain in the Gotei 13, I would imagine it would be pretty hard to both disarm you and then use your own weapon to kill you." Xander replied, coming to a stop once he reached what he believed was a favourable spot, strategically speaking, "After all, even if swordsmanship wasn't your strong suit, I find it quite hard to believe that you'd get schooled even if it was by another captain. So when you combine the lack of environmental evidence along with the improbability of a captain being disarmed and then stabbed with his own weapon, I knew something was up."

"Superb, Xander. While most would have overlooked such details, you seem to have an eye for seeing more than most," Aizen stated in what appeared to be genuine respect towards him for picking out all the clues successfully. "I assume it was these inconsistencies that caused you to break into the Central 46 chambers Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Yes. While I didn't think much of Xander's suspicions at first, the more I considered them, the more it seemed plausible," Hitsugaya replied with hostility in his voice. "What I didn't expect was that you'd kill the Central 46 and assume their positions."

"You have done the unexpected itself, Captain Hitsugaya. Your return here so soon after leaving to pursue Kira-kun was most unexpected," Aizen said conversationally as he turned to look at Gin.

"Sorry. Seems like Izuru's diversion wasn't good 'nough," Gin said in apology, although the look on his face never changed.

"What? What the hell are the two of you talking about?!" Hitsugaya asked with heightened concern about the choice of words used.

"'What are we talking about?' Just some strategy. Division of the enemy's forces is the first step of battle strategy, isn't it?" Aizen asked rhetorically with that annoying smile on his face.

"Enemy?!" Exclaimed Hitsugaya at the pronouncement of his former comrade before something important occurred to him, "Where is Hinamori?!"

_Hinamori? Isn't that Aizen's Lieutenant and Whitey's childhood friend?_ He asked himself mentally before his Murphy's law engine kicked in and produced the worst case scenario for him, _NO! H-he wouldn't have!_

"Well, where could she be…" Aizen replied before falling silent and allowing the youngest captain of the Gotei 13 to fill in the blanks.

It took Hitsugaya less than a second to do so and, in a blur of shunpo, he vanished, only to reappear just inside the structure Aizen and Gin had just exited. Two seconds passed but then he heard Whitey speak in a way that confirmed his Murphy engine's results beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Hina… mori." Hitsugaya said at a volume just above that of a whisper and thus barely audible to those outside the building.

"Too bad. You found her," Aizen said in a tone laced with amusement at the emotional turmoil the young captain was most certainly going through. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I suppose I should have at least ground her to dust so you wouldn't find her."

"Aizen… Ichimaru… Since when were you accomplices?" Hitsugaya asked with his rage just barely being kept in check, "Since before you faked your death?"

"From the beginning, of course. Since I became captain, I never once considered anyone but him my lieutenant." Aizen replied with his voice never once losing its laid back and conversational tone.

"So then, up until now, Hinamori, me, your subordinates, every other shinigami, everyone…" Hitsugaya said with his control over his anger beginning to show signs of slipping, "…you've been deceiving us all?!"

"I never intended to deceive. It's just… that not one of you comprehended… my true nature." Aizen replied as though it should have been simple to see through the mask he wore.

"Didn't comprehend…Hinamori… Hinamori looked up to you, and joined the Gotei 13 just to be closer to you. She seriously worked herself to death so she could be useful to you…" Hitsugaya stated as moment by moment his control began to slip, "…and finally became your lieutenant!"

"I know. There's no one so easy to control as someone who admires you. That is why I pressed to have her as my subordinate," Aizen said as though he didn't care that he had used his lieutenant's feelings against her. "This is a good opportunity. There's something you should remember, Hitsugaya-kun. Admiration is the farthest emotion from comprehension."

_Hoo boy! That did it! Better get ready to join the party._ He thought to himself as he began to pull his zanpakutō from its sheath.

His gut feeling was proven accurate as, in an explosion of spiritual energy, the column-like structure that Hitsugaya had been in exploded outwards reducing the building to a pile of debris. Deciding to take advantage of that distraction, he brought his katana into a ready position and spoke the words that had less than an hour ago helped to turn the tide against the Special Mobile Corps unit.

"Rise and Burn, AMATERASU!" He said just below yelling volume and soaked up the feeling of power that arose from releasing his zanpakutō to shikai level.

It had been a pretty impressive transformation of his sword as well as the comets of flame that now orbited around him but as he looked to the captain of the tenth division he found that his change was a mere parlor trick.

"Ban Kai!" Hitsugaya said with a voice that was neither a yell nor a whisper but somewhere in between.

With those words, ice began to flow from the hilt guard of the captain's sword and in seconds the boy was encased in ice armor beneath his shinigami uniform with the right arm taking on the appearance of an ice dragon three times as big as the kid himself. Add to this two flower-shaped masses of ice floating in the air behind him and it became clear just how much of a difference in power there was between shikai and ban kai.

"Grand Blazing Hyourinmaru!" Hitsugaya growled out once the final release had finished.

With a blast of gale force sub-zero winds, Whitey apparently wanted to start the hurtin' of form Captain Aizen as soon as possible but sadly a little application of shunpo was all that was needed for Sousuke to evade it. Deciding that the kid would need some help to pin down his target, he charged forward with the intention of getting the traitor's attention and thus give Whitey an opening to attack. However it was just as he was about three steps away from the platform that the column building had stood on that he was reminded that there were **two** traitors present in the room. In a blur of motion, Captain Ichimaru appeared in front of him and it was only thanks to the training he received both by fighting alongside the Slayer and his training in Soul Society that allowed him to block the man's attack.

"I think ya should leave this to the two captains, Xander-kun." He stated with that infuriating grin of his.

This recommendation came with a potent shove that sent him stumbling backwards many feet and almost causing him to land on his ass. However he managed to regain his balance in time and immediately began to reassess the situation before him in order to determine how he could be of most help to Captain Kid. After his rather pathetic fight against Soifon, he was not delusional about his chances of being able to beat Gin anytime soon. While the grinning jerk might choose to play with him before delivering the final blow, he would likely be just as quick as the commander of the Special Mobile Corps if not more so. Add to that the likelihood of a shikai level zanpakutō being able to harm a captain level shinigami and the odds were most definitely stacked against him. Looking up at the platform, he could see that Whitey was about to make his second charge at Aizen, who at the moment was just standing there with his arms at his side. This immediately struck him as odd since even a cocky bastard like him couldn't be foolish enough to think he could dodge the kid's attacks forever especially at ban kai level.

_Not everything is as it seems Alexander._ Amaterasu said to him in his mind, _Close your eyes and look for energy that my namesake bestows upon the world._

Trusting his zanpakutō completely, he closed his eyes and began to try sensing the things that matched the description she had given him. His first thought had been light but he didn't think that something like that could be perceived with his eyes closed so that went to the next obvious choice: heat. It took some concentration but as he focused on that aspect of the sun's power something happened that almost shattered his concentration due to the shock of it all. Where once there was nothing but the blackness of the back of his eyelids, he now 'saw' everything in the room with each object made up of varying shades of red. Lifeless objects were the hardest to perceive since they could only soak up the heat of other things rather than generate their own. For living beings, though, like Gin, Whitey and Aizen, they stood out from the environment like torches of heat making them easy to spot even though Captain Kid was obscured by his ice armor. It was then that he noticed something odd that quickly evolved into alarming as he realized what would happen if something was not changed and soon. From Hitsugaya's stance and the direction he seemed to be looking on he could tell that he was about to charge straight ahead to attack Aizen. However if this heat perception ability of his was accurate Aizen was actually standing a little right of where Whitey would be going. Recalling what he had seen when his eyes were open, he tried to figure out why his eyes said Aizen was standing in front of Hitsugaya but his heat senses told him the traitor was standing to right of that position.

_It's like my normal five senses are being told one thing and this heat sensor power of mine is telling me another._ He thought to himself as he heard Whitey and Aizen exchange words, _Question is: which one do I trust?_

In the end he chose to believe that the Aizen that had the greatest chance of hurting the captain of the tenth division was the real one and brought his zanpakutō quickly to head level. With all the will he had, he tried to speed up the charging process of the ray shot as best he could and just as he saw Whitey lift off the ground towards Aizen, he fired his shot. Like light unleashed from a flashlight, it shot across the distance between him and his target but just as it reached the halfway point, Gin appeared with his sword in place to block the attack. He could **see** the trail of heat that the former shinigami captain had left behind him as he passed through the air and filed this effect away for later consideration. Instead he focused on directing the ray shot he had fired to split in two so that they could go around the interfering jerk and, thankfully, it only cost the attack a fraction of a second in terms of time. However with two projectiles to direct instead of just one, he had to alter his initial plan a bit to compensate. His initial plan had been to strike Aizen in a critical spot in order to force the criminal to abort his assault on Whiety. Now, though, the strength of the shots had been cut in half so hurting the criminal was not as likely as it had been before. As the attacks reached the point of no return, he decided to go with his gut instinct on where to aim them.

One of the arrows of fire he directed at Aizen's head.

The other he aimed at the man's sword arm right at the wrist.

Both hit their marks.

He smiled in satisfaction as he watched Aizen abort his attack and moved into a defensive stance with a little wobble in his movements. While he doubted he'd done more than give the asshole more than a sunburn, the attacks had done their job and Captain Hitsugaya was safe for the time being. However it also left three people looking at him for answers although the only one he really gave a shit about answering was Whitey.

"Xander?" Hitsugaya asked with his tone clearly implying that he better choose his words carefully if he didn't want to land himself in the traitor column along with Gin and Aizen.

"Don't trust your senses Captain Hitsugaya! I don't know how he's doing it but somehow Aizen's making it look like he's in one place when he's really in another." He explained without once opening his eyes, "Trust your zanpakutō and use its power to sense where he really is."

_Please get it!_ He thought pleadingly as he hoped that the Captain would get what he was trying to say before Aizen and Gin did.

A smile grew onto his face as he saw Whitey close his eyes and it only got bigger when he saw the kid whirl around and lock onto Aizen's true location. Without any further words the commanding officer of the tenth division of the Gotei 13 attacked the traitor once more except this time he was right on target. However it seemed that this change in the situation, the nullification of his sensory deception technique, only put Aizen off balance for a moment. As the criminal brought up his right hand, the Xan-man knew that something was up and immediately began to gather his six flame comets in front of him.

"Way of Destruction sixty-three: sōren sōkatsui!" Aizen said calmly but what shot from his hands was anything but calm.

In a flash of neon blue light, two bolts of energy that looked like lightning shot from the traitor's hand with one heading for Hitsugaya and the other coming right at him. He tried his best to bring all of his flame comets up to block the attack but was only able to bring up four of the six in time before the energy struck. For a split second the two forms of energy clashed and it looked like he might actually stand a chance of stopping the spell completely. However it turned out that that was just a trick on the part of Murphy because, one second later, the attack shattered the protective wall of feminine hands that he had constructed and hit both his sword and his chest like a freight train.

A freight train made of electricity of course.

Pain suffused his body and, peripherally, he could sense his body convulsing as the energy went through him. For him it seemed like an eternity before the pain finally shrank to manageable levels, but by then he could do nothing more than fall face first to the ground with his zanpakutō returning to normal being the only thing he could see. For a moment it was all he could do to remain conscious but as the seconds began to tick by, his strength rose high enough that he could use his hands to push himself up onto his elbows. It was shaky, his arms along with the rest of him screaming at him to rest, but he ignored what his body was telling him in favor of keeping on top of the current situation. What his eyes revealed to him was something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand it looked like Whitey had been caught off guard by Aizen's demon art spell, resulting in him being knocked to the ground. This was bad, since it meant that even without releasing his zanpakutō to ban kai level, Aizen was strong enough to kick a captain's ass. The good part of what he saw, though, was that standing at the entrance to the chamber they were in was reinforcements in the form of Captain Unohana and Lieutenant Kotetsu. While not the kick ass shinigami he would have liked, such as say Zaraki Kenpachi or Sajin Komamura, it increased the odds in favor of the good guys to about two to one assuming he could get back on his feet.

"Captain Aizen." Unohana said before she caught her own mistake, "No, I suppose I should not call you 'captain' any longer. Perpetrator of high treason, Aizen Sousuke."

"How do you do, Captain Unohana?" Aizen said in polite greeting to the new arrivals, "I was thinking if you were going to come, it would be soon. Did you know I was here right away?"

"In the Court of Pure Souls, the Purewood Towers residence is the one area where entry is completely forbidden no matter what the reason." Unohana replied in her usual matronly voice, "If you went to the trouble of creating such an elaborate corpse figure as that to hide yourself, your destination would be the one place in the Court most difficult to be found in: nowhere else but here."

"Close. You've deduced well, but you have made two mistakes." Aizen said with his own version of mock respect, "First of all, I didn't come here to hide myself. And the other, this isn't a corpse figure."

_How the--?_ He thought to himself as suddenly the traitor had a limp yet perfect replica of himself dangling from his right hand, _Where'd that come from? I knew he was messing with our senses but I didn't think he could do this._

"When did he--?" Kotetsu gasped as a half question since that was all she could get out thanks to the shock she was in.

"When did I? I've been holding this the entire time." Aizen said as though he couldn't understand why they were so confused, "Only, until this very moment, I just hadn't decided to show you that."

"W-what does that…?" Isane asked obviously not able to recover from the shocks she was getting to form complete sentences.

"You'll know very soon. Here, I'll undo it." Aizen said as though he was doing them a great favor, "Shatter, Kyouka Suigetsu!"

With those words the body that Aizen had been holding in his hands shattered like glass to reveal his zanpakutō gripped in his hand, then in a move that seemed just as crazy as what he'd just seen, Sousuke let the sword fall to the ground allowing to stick blade tip first into the steps in front of him.

"My zanpakutō's, Kyouka Suigetsu's, ability is complete hypnosis." Aizen explained as though giving an interview.

"Complete…hypnosis?" Lieutenant Kotetsu asked rhetorically with her mental equilibrium almost back to normal, "But you said Kyouka Suigetsu is a flowing water type zanpakutō and…it uses diffused reflections of fog and water streams to confuse the enemy and make them attack one another! Captain Aizen, that's what you said! You gathered the lieutenants and actually demonstrated it right before our eyes!"

"I…h-hate to state the obvious, Lieutenant, but I think it's pretty obvious he lied to you." Xander said as he reviewed this new information in order to form his own opinion, "It's another common rule of battle strategy, isn't it, Aizen? Never show either your enemy or your allies everything you're capable of."

"Exactly, Xander-kun. I see you have a keen mind to go with those sharp eyes of yours." Aizen said as he began to walk down the stairs.

"I see. So _that_ is the hypnosis ceremony." Unohana stated as she realized what he had concerning the tactical advantage hypnotizing the lieutenants would give Sousuke.

"Precisely. Complete hypnosis controls all five senses and can make the enemy mistake the appearance, shape, mass, texture, even smell of an object." Aizen explained once he was at Gin's side, "In other words, it's possible to make a fly look like a dragon, or a swamp like a flower garden. And the condition for its use is to show the enemy the moment of Kyouka Suigetsu's release. Anyone who sees that even once falls completely into hypnosis from that moment and thereafter, every time I release Kyouka Suigetsu, they become a prisoner of complete hypnosis."

"See it even once…" Unohana said as though speaking the words would give her a better grasp on the concept.

A moment later she gasped in surprise and it took him three seconds to deduce what had caused this. If the condition for Kyouka Suigetsu's power was that the target had to see the initial release then there was one person in all of Soul Society capable of being immune to it.

"It looks like you've realized it." Aizen said a moment later, "That's right, if you see it even once, you will fall under the spell which means those who cannot see cannot fall under the spell. In other words, from the beginning, Tousen Kaname has been my subordinate."

This caused a ripple of shock to run through all the good guys as it was revealed that the treason against Soul Society ran deeper than anyone thought.

"However it would seem that there exists another way to neutralize Kyouka Suigetsu's complete hypnosis." Aizen stated before looking right at the still down Xander, "That is a very intriguing use of your zanpakutō's abilities, Xander-kun. I can see I will have to keep a closer eye on you."

Then without warning, Gin removed a long length of white ribbon from within his uniform and, as though it had a mind of its own, it encircled both him and Aizen repeatedly.

"Lastly, let me compliment you, Captain Unohana." Aizen said as the ribbon picked up speed, "Although you touched it the longest for your examination, you were superb to sense even a slight incongruity about my corpse while under complete hypnosis. Farewell. I doubt we shall meet again."

"Stop!" Isane cried as she rushed forward with her drawn zanpakutō drawn as she realized like the rest of them had that Aizen was making his getaway.

However before she could even get two thirds of the way there, Gin's white ribbon did its job and teleported the two of them out of the room in a flash of light. As a credit to the lieutenant's skills, though, it only caused her to hesitate for a moment before she withdrew what was apparently a canister of ink from her uniform and began drawing something on the floor where Aizen disappeared.

"Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain. Way of Binding number fifty-eight: Summoning of the Tracking Sparrows!" She chanted before placing her hands on either side of whatever she drew on the floor, "Thirty-one… sixty-four… eighty-three… ninety-seven…teleportation site acquired! East three hundred and thirty-two, North fifteen hundred and sixty-six. It is the Soukyoku…"

"Very well. Immediately locate all captains and lieutenants and relay the message…" Unohana ordered as she turned to go up the steps to the platform where Hinamori lay, "…of everything we have learned about Aizen Sousuke and his destination."

"Yes m'am." Isane replied removing her hands from the binding spell she used to track down the traitors' teleportation destination.

"And send the same message to those ryoka, as well." Unohana added almost as an afterthought to her initial order.

"Understood." Kotetsu stated with determination in her eyes.

"I am counting on you. As of now, I will begin life-saving measures for Lieutenant Hinamori and treat Xander-san's wounds." Unohana stated as she began to go to work on the obviously more serious case of healing Hinamori.

_Looks like the pros have things well in hand now._ He thought as he rolled over onto his back and began to rest, _With all the captains and lieutenants after them, as well as Ichigo's people, those traitors don't stand a chance._ _Looks like I can finally take five._

Nevertheless, even as he thought these words, he could not shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach that Aizen, Gin and Tousen would somehow manage to escape. The polite bastard had been so thorough in his planning every step of the way that it wasn't inconceivable that he might have planned for his scheme being found out before it was finished. If that was true, then it would take a pretty big miracle to stop them now, a miracle that he couldn't be a part of given how banged up he was at the moment, but if there was one thing his time with the Scoobies had taught him it was that baddies always screwed up somewhere along the way.

_I just hope that he doesn't wind up making __**me**__ that screw up._ He thought as he stared at the ceiling of the chamber.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Mortal Realm, Kyoto City Hospital, Japan, Xander's Room 

_Xander, please, wake up!_ Willow thought beseechingly as she looked at her comatose friend lying still in his bed, _I need you and so does everyone else!_

It had been a little over two months since the original Scooby gang managed to foil the demon Dra'koth's plan to obtain the power of a god of death. A little over two months since their victory put her best friend into a coma that he showed no signs of coming out of anytime soon. After the first two weeks, the gang had begun to worry that something other than the wounds he suffered might be keeping Xander from waking up, so first they had a couple of doctors on the Council payroll (meaning they knew about demons and magic) examine Xander using the best equipment money could buy. Unfortunately the test results they got only reinforced what was already known: Alexander LaVelle Harris was in a coma. Nothing using conventional medicine was revealed that was not consistent with this single fact.

Naturally none of the Scoobies had been satisfied with this so they had moved onto possible magical or demonic maladies that could explain why their friend wasn't waking up.

That pretty much had taken up the remaining time up to the present but the information they gained from the diagnostic spells were only slightly more helpful than the accepted medical tests. While they had not been able to tell them what **was** keeping Xander from waking up, they had been able to tell them what **was not** responsible for keeping him in a coma. The well-known maladies caused by magic or demons had been ruled out within the first three weeks and it was now the more exotic kinds that were being looked into. Unfortunately, the means by which a person could tell if a patient was afflicted with these more exotic maladies were not easy to come by in terms of either ingredients or talismans. Some they had been able to find in the storehouses of the Old Council while others they had to tap their various sources around the world for. Then there were the ones currently in the possession of those that would not be interested in doing the New Council a favor. That and the price some of them would ask for this favor would be too horrible to mention as well as something Xander wouldn't want them to do just for his sake. That was why just about everyone with the exception of Dawn were scattered across the globe looking for the necessary ingredients to bring their friend back to them.

_Giles should be here in about a week. Faith and Robin should be here about two weeks after that._ She thought as she recalled what the current assignments were for those in the field, _Buffy…well…she'll get here as soon as she can, but it all depends on the time difference between the rest of the world and where she is._

That was the one thing that was the same for each of the Sunnydale survivors no matter who they were. They all were willing to do their best to help the one-eyed carpenter and heart of the original Scooby gang recover and get back to doing what he did best, which was give them the kind of help they needed from time to time. That was why everyone from Rona to her girlfriend Kennedy was working double time to pick up the slack that the others left behind to find the stuff they needed to help Xander. While they couldn't do it forever, it was pretty much the consensus that it would at least be another six months before they had no choice but to resume their official duties. Giles had said that if it came to that he would do his best to get her transferred to some post nearby so she could visit Xander whenever she wanted. The Council would also foot the medical bills for his stay here for as long as it took to bring their friend back to them.

She was about to get up to get a bite to eat from the hospital cafeteria when brief dizzy spell overcame her and forced her to sit back down or risk falling down. However, what stuck in her mind the though was that for the brief period that the disorientation lasted, she could have sworn she saw some kind of chain going from her friend's chest to some kind of blue portal. After a brief shake of her head and a rubbing of the eyes, though, it was gone and all was as it had been for the past two months. That was to be expected, since if there had been a chain or a blue portal or something they would have noticed it before now.

_I guess the stress of it all must be getting to me. _She thought as she carefully got to her feet and, thankfully, did not suffer another dizzy spell, _Better go eat something before it happens again._

With that she left the room determined to get a full meal in before resuming her bedside vigil over her best friend. She didn't even notice that it was a whole ten minutes later then when she had first stood up to get something to eat.

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Outside the Hospital, Heading Towards the Main Parking Lot, One Minute Later 

"Whew Now **that** was a close call!" Whistler thought as he headed towards the car he used when he was on Earth, "Red is definitely building up a resistance to that concealment and obliviation spell the higher ups had me cast on Harris' body. Gonna have to come up with something better soon or things 're goin' to get complicated."

Still, orders were orders and if the Powers That Be wanted him to keep Summers and her crew in the dark about what was really going on with their friend, then that's what he'd do. Sure, they had given him no reason why they were so obsessive over keeping Harris in Soul Society and, sure, they had made it clear what **would** happen to him if the New Council found out the truth, but like all messengers he wasn't paid to think for himself. He was paid to pass on information between the Powers and their champions as well as occasionally keep tabs on special projects like this one. That was why he'd been given a car, since he was actually being told to live in an apartment building a few blocks away so he could be at the hospital in a flash if something troublesome happened. Normally all he did was pass on whatever message needed to be passed on and then went back to his private pocket dimension apartment, but this project was apparently so important that the Powers also wanted to keep how big it was from getting out, so frequent teleportations between dimensions was to be avoided at all cost.

_I wonder what could be so important about Harris that the brass would be in this much of a tizzy over it._ He thought as he pulled the keys to his BMW out and unlocked the doors, _As far as I know, the kid isn't mentioned in any of the big prophecies aside from the ones that put a Slayer in the starring role._

However, as he recalled everything he knew about Alexander LaVelle Harris, he remembered the alias Caleb and Angelus had given the kid.

The One Who Sees.

If he remembered his ancient prophecies correctly, there was at least one mentioning someone like that as being a trigger of some kind.

_And so there shall come a warrior of mankind,_

_A warrior among champions great and small;_

_He shall be known by the strength of his morals and his courage,_

_With them he will come to be able to walk in the three worlds;_

_Then shall come a time of great peril and a call to arms will sound, _

_The Elementress, The Amazon, The Panther, The Sage and the Spear Master will come;_

_Together with the One Who Sees they shall play a pivotal role in the battle of souls,_

_The battle that will be harbinger of the Twilight of those who rule from above;_

At least that was how he thought it went but as he hadn't read that particular book of prophecies in about a century, so he could have gotten some of the words wrong. He knew that the One Who Sees was Harris and he was willing to bet that the five allies of this warrior of mankind were probably the Slayer and her crew. As for this battle of souls, he didn't have a clue but 'those who rule from above' were probably his bosses, the Powers That Be. However the very idea that anything could bring about their end was laughable in the extreme and he felt like smacking himself for even considering it a possibility. His bosses had been around since the beginning of the war against the darkness and would be around long after it came to an end. The very idea that one battle of souls could do anything to bring them even a step closer to destruction was insanity. With that in mind, he tossed such useless thoughts into the abyss of his mind and focused on more important things.

_If I hurry back and the traffic isn't too bad I should make it to my place just in time to catch that new Power Rangers show._ He thought to himself as he drove out of the hospital parking lot.


	21. A SoCal Cajun

"A So-Cal Cajun" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

A Hero in the Making Saga (Part 1 of ?)

email: ryley [underscore breen [at hotmail [dot com

Disclaimer: This is to state that I do not own any of the copyrighted materials featured in this drabble/short. They are the property of their respective creators and associated companies. The idea for this came from a drabble/short written by Dragonhulk that was part of his 'Xander as Marvel Style' collection. It is a continuation of a drabble as well as adding my own personal spin on the situation. I am making no money off of this nor do I expect to in the future. This is written purely for the enjoyment of the readers who read it and myself who enjoyed writing it.

Note: In terms of where this would fit in which Marvel universe I've decided to make this take place in the X-Men Movie-verse rather than the comics or any of the animated cartoons. Mostly because in the comics the Morlock Massacre was a crucial event with three or so X-Men present during the carnage. Since this was not the case with Dragonhulk's version of things that removes the comic universe from the list of possibilities. Neither could it be a part of the cartoons centered on the X-Men since to my knowledge the Morlock Massacre never happened there nor was there a mention of it. That leaves the movie-verse and that will work nicely with what I have in mind. As for when in the movie-verse I'd put it about six or nine months after the events of Last Stand. So without further adieu let's start de show, neh?

A So-Cal Cajun Just Passing the Sunnydale City Limits, An Hour After Sundown An Hour Before Buffy Encounter's Sunday the Vampire Bitch 

"Home sweet Sunnyhell!" Xander said to himself as he drove past the 'welcome to Sunnydale' sign and into the town proper.

It had taken a little over a month and a half but he finally managed to get back across the country from New York to California without too much trouble. While he couldn't say that he'd had the time of his life traveling across the country, it was definitely par for the course as far as his life was concerned. It had all begun when, just past Oxnard, he had run into a male albino who apparently knew that Xander had special abilities and wished to offer an opportunity to enhance them further. Naturally the paranoia and knowledge of Mr. Murphy had him wary of any aid a stranger might offer, but after talking to the guy for a while he'd decided to give it a shot. After all, while his level of power at the time was decent enough, the prospect of becoming strong enough to be considered the next biggest gun after Buffy pretty much sealed the deal. He didn't really remember a whole lot of the procedures Mr. Essex used to enhance his abilities aside from brief flashes of pain and the lab it took place in. Still, he couldn't argue with the results though, since he could now control the detonation of whatever he charged to an impressive degree and the act of charging an item no longer tired him as quickly. As soon as he was safely out of the woods and back on his feet, though, he had immediately inquired as to what the bill for the enhancements he receive was.

He had been a little surprised at the answer.

Apparently Essex had labs all over the United States and the one located in New York had been overrun by demons in recent months. This lab apparently had several important records stored within them and so Essex asked him to contact some people for him and then accompany them to the lab's location to deal with the infestation. So as honor dictated, he used the information he'd been provided with to track down and contact his 'teammates' and what a weird bunch they turned out to be. Arclight, Blockbuster, Harpoon, Prism, Riptide, Sabretooth, Scalphunter, Scrambler and Vertigo were their codenames with each of them setting off his inner alarms during as well as after their initial meeting. It wasn't until the group actually managed to got down to the job of killing the 'demons' in the tunnels beneath New York City that they'd shown him just how big of an understatement his internal alarms had made concerning them. He had promised himself right then and there that the moment they got back to Essex to report a job well done, he would close the door on this part of his life and never look back. Sadly the Fates had chosen to interfere at that point in the struggle and inform him of the truth of what he had been helping the others do.

He hadn't been killing demons like Essex had told him.

He had been killing humans with special powers, 'mutants' he recalled hearing them called on TV, just like him.

He'd told the others in the hopes that, while a little too blood happy, they'd stop killing once they realized that they were killing other humans. It had been the response he got from Scalphunter, however, that had and still did chill him to the bone whenever he thought of the killers he'd assembled for Essex.

"The mission is to kill everyone here, it doesn't matter what they are."

When the sentiment had been mimicked by those marauding murderers within hearing distance of him, Xander had no other conclusion to come to other than he had made the mother of all mistakes. All at once his mind had scrambled to figure out a way to undo the mistake he had made but in the end he had chosen to do something jock stupid. He'd used his newly enhanced powers to turn every scrap of potential energy within range into kinetic energy and the only thing that had been keeping the big BOOM at bay had been his will. Then, with more balls than brains, he'd dealt out an ultimatum to the killers around him: leave at once or be turned into dead bodies. Naturally no self-respecting psycho-killer wanted to die themselves, so one by one the team he'd assembled for Essex left, growling promises of telling Essex on him. From there it had been a strained request to the bone girl who'd enlightened him on the truth to check and make sure the murderers were gone before he, with great difficulty, undid what he'd done turning kinetic back into potential. After that things had gone dark on account of the fact that he'd pushed himself **WAY** past his limits and as a result passed out.

He awakened a few hours later to find himself tied securely with a thirty-something woman wearing an eye-patch waiting to interrogate him. Fortunately it only took a brief Q&A session to make it clear he had been tricked and so the Ellen Ripley wannabe declared that he would not be killed. However that did not mean he was completely free to go, since he had killed a few Morlocks (that's what the tunnel dwelling mutants called themselves), he would have to replace those lives somehow. No matter **how** long it took. Naturally thoughts of Sunnydale and the gang made an appearance right about then and he had told Callisto that he couldn't stick around due to his duties defending the Hellmouth. After all, while he didn't think that he was the reason the world was still spinning, he did believe that one person being in the right place at the right time could literally make the difference between winning and everyone going to hell. Naturally, Callisto pulled the whole 'I could just kill you now' line but it turned out to be a bluff and instead she allowed him to return home but not without two babysitters. The two Morlocks sent with him had been charged with ascertaining whether or not the situation in Sunnydale was as bad as he had claimed it was.

One would think that once he got back into his car and left the city everything would pretty much be smooth sailing, right?

WRONG!

Problems one and two took the form of his babysitters Feral and Thorn, both of whom took the role of 'catwomen' to whole new levels. With wild hairdos, feline physical features and a coating of fur covering them from head to toe, it was only made worse by the fact that they were both knockouts in his opinion. Oh, he knew that most men would steer clear of women that broke from the established norm but, given his track record, he'd long since given up on ever meeting a normal woman he could fall in love with. Both of them had treated him like an accomplice to murder and therefore any attempt he had made at conversation was met with a hissed reply, both figuratively as well as literally. Fortunately a third problem showed up later but this time it worked in his favor since it made sure that catwoman one and catwoman two at least behaved civil towards him.

Sarah had snuck out of the tunnels, located his car before he and his two babysitters had arrived, hopped into the trunk and had been hiding there ever since. It was only when one of his tires had blown that she was discovered and a decision was put forth to the three of them: Turn around and take the kid back to the tunnels or take her with them. In the end a combination of distance traveled and Sarah's own refusal to allow the three of them to go to Sunnydale without her decided things. As soon as they got to the next town, they sought out a payphone and, when a little past two in the morning came by, Feral put a call into a payphone in New York that the Morlocks used when necessary. They called Callisto and informed the leader of the underground band of mutants where Sarah was and what the three of them had decided. While the one-eyed woman was relieved to hear that Sarah was okay, she was less than enthusiastic about letting the newly teenage Morlock accompany the three to Sunnydale. Fortunately, using techniques only teenage girls had any skill in using, the pink haired kid managed to convince her leader (and surrogate mother, unless he missed his guess) to allow her to stay with the three of them.

From that point he had resumed his position of believing that everything would be smooth sailing, but given what happened next he seriously began to wonder if the phrases you **do NOT say** applied to the world as a whole rather than just Sunnydale.

It had happened when they were passing through New Orleans (he'd decided to take a more round about route back both to slip past anything Essex might have waiting for him and to make Sarah happy) that his White Knight complex got triggered by what he thought was a mugging. He was the one to do most of the hard work since he had ordered the three Morlocks to stay in the car, but in the end his years of fighting on the Hellmouth came through for him. Sadly it was then that Fate decided to give him an object lesson in how being a White Knight could land one in a heap of trouble. Just as he was helping the 'victim' out of the alleyway, sounds of a fierce battle tore through the night and motivated him to pick up the pace. He arrived just in time to see Feral down on the ground looking like a sci-fi babe waking up from cryo-sleep, Thornn squaring off against some kinda energy using mutant and Sarah getting out of the car to help Feral. Naturally his protective nature compelled him to join the fight but before he could get more than a few feet he was hit with something on the back of the head **hard** sending him to the deep dark la-la land of unconsciousness.

When he had woken up, he found that he, Feral, Thornn and Sarah were all chained up in some kind of basement. Normally this would not be a problem since his kinetic charging ability, properly tempered, could make short work of the chains and he bet that neither of the catwomen could be held by the metal work either. However when he tried to use said kinetic charging ability, he found it disturbingly absent and judging from the frantic chain shaking from the girls' direction, it was the same for them. It was then that their captor showed up in the form of a fat tub of lard named Tomage Vode, who was either a mutant or a demon based on his Smurf blue skin. Vode informed them that they were the latest catch of the day in some kind of slave ring for the rich and famous or just for people who wanted something exotic as well as illegal for their very own. The idiot actually had the stupidity to explain the process in full from the 'flesh sculpting' they would undergo to match the customer's order to the 'psi-burning' to mentally make them what the buyers wanted. While it was stupid, it was also disturbing that something like this would be going on right under the noses of the authorities. After all, deeply stupid or corrupt policemen couldn't be everywhere, right? In the end, though, it only increased the necessity of getting out of there as soon as possible.

Their chance came about three weeks later but by then most of the changes the 'buyers' requested had already been done physically and the groundwork mentally had been laid. There was some good and bad in this for everyone but it'd still be a cold day in hell before he'd actually admit it to anyone. For him, the changes meant the elimination of any excess body fat he had on him as well as significantly more muscle than he'd had on him when he went into the room. Oh, he wasn't an Arnold or one of the men from a Mr. Universe body building competitions, but rather a guy you expected to see on a billboard in nothing but his boxers with the name Calvin Klein on it. Aside from that there was only one major change to him but it was one that he didn't like one little bit. Thanks to the mutant responsible for the body sculpting, he could no longer change his eyes back to normal, they were now permanently red on black, with the only consolation being that he could turn his energy vision on and off. As for the mental side of things, apparently whoever had put in the order for him had a thing for charming Cajun master thieves because now he had the knowledge of a master thief, the moves of a consummate ladies man and unless he actually focused on what he was saying he'd start speakin' Cajun instead of normal English. All in all, he thought he got out of the situation remarkably unscathed but the same could not be said for Thornn or Feral and most definitely he could not say the same about Sarah.

For Feral and Thornn their physical appearances had been enhanced to emphasize their 'desirable' traits while minimizing their less appealing ones. That meant that both of them were now sporting chests dancing on the boarder of 'C and D cup' land, the rest of their bodies looked like they belonged in Playboy, their claws were shortened until they could be mistaken for Halloween press-on nails, their ears were now more Vulcan-y and their hair didn't look like it came from the Bride of Frankenstein or the eighties. All said, the only features that'd keep them from walking topside and blending in with the normal people was that they still had their tails as well as a light coating of body fur to deal with. Apparently the buyer that wanted them had a fetish for animal women.

_Not that I can't see a measure of appeal but that still won't stop me from busting the guy's head if I ever run into him._ He thought as familiar buildings came into view.

"Xander? I need to use the bathroom." Sarah said from her place in the back seat behind him.

"Que? Dammit! You just went an hour ago." He said, cursing himself for allowing his surprise over Sarah's request to let a little Cajun slip past his lips.

"I told you that you shouldn't have let her have two of those jumbo slushies!" Feral snapped looking a little annoyed at yet another bothersome stop.

"I thought she could hold it until we got to Giles' place." He shot back but this time managing to keep his voice English rather than Cajun despite his anger.

Spotting the Espresso Pump, he pulled over and stopped but kept the engine running since they'd need it if Sunnydale denial syndrome didn't work for mutants.

"Alright go do your business Sarah, but make sure you keep those bones in you the entire time." He said turning in his seat to look into the back seat, "Sunnydale might be blind to the existence of demons and the supernatural but I don't know how they'll react if they find out mutants are in town. Understand?"

"Yes, husband-mine!" Sarah said with a combination of humor and seriousness before she closed her eyes and began to concentrate.

Like seeing the growth of a flower in reverse he watched as Sarah willed the bones sticking out of her skin to recede until they were gone leaving only a newly teenage girl with pink hair to be seen by anyone who looked. This was one of the big things that Sarah had gotten thanks to the body sculptor of Tomage Vode but it hadn't been anywhere near as painless as the changes had been for the rest of them. He hadn't been able to get the entire story out of Sarah but apparently the mutant body sculptor was not exactly a handsome guy. Hell! She likened him to the hunchback of Notre Dame except worse! Apparently while this guy could alter the physical appearances of others like an artist sculpting with clay, he was incapable of affecting any lasting changes on himself. When he learned of Sarah's uncontrollable bone growths, the sculptor decided to use her as a test subject for his latest attempt to gain complete control over his physical features and proportions. The process had taken the entire final week of their imprisonment and each time Sarah had been returned to the rest of them in their cell, it looked like the kid had undergone severe electro-shock therapy. It was nothing short of a miracle that the kid had come out of the entire experience as well as she had, but there were still scars if one knew where to look. Still, it allowed her to pass for normal from time to time so long as she could maintain a certain level of concentration but this was often taxing on the young girl so she didn't use this ability very often or rely upon it too much. Watching her get out of the car and run to the ladies room, he looked back to the other occupant of the back seat and thanked whatever higher being had sent this snow haired mocha girl their way.

"You need to go too, Stormy?" He asked, wanting to make sure that they didn't wind up having to stop again three minutes after Sarah got back.

"No, I am good," replied the girl who was about the same age as Sarah was with a reassuring smile.

"Good, because the sooner we get done having a look in this town the better." Thornn said as she tensed for a moment after sniffing the air for a moment, "Something about this place is **wrong**."

"I feel it too. The air feels wrong here." Stormy said with a distasteful scowl as she looked out the car window.

It had been during the first phase of his mind sculpting procedure, just after they'd finished shoving in the Cajun Master Thief things into his head, that the door had banged open and Stormy had rushed in, obviously running from someone. Her unexpected arrival shocked the mind sculptor stiff and right then he had known an opportunity for escape had just landed in his lap. He immediately asked the girl to free him and, when she complied, it was his turn to be shocked, both figuratively as well as literally, when she somehow generated two bolts of lightning that cut through the straps holding him down. Fortunately when he saw the mind sculptor recover, he got back into the swing of things as well and before the asshole could do anything the metal pole of the saline drip met the backside of the prick's head. When he looked back at Stormy though he learned that apparently while she was a mutant she was too young to pull off something like two lightning bolts and not feel a drain afterwards. She had been so wobbly on her feet that he had been forced to carry her in order for them to make good on their escape and so they left the 'operating room' to rescue Thornn, Feral and Sarah.

Not before he picked up some ammunition he had spotted on a table near the door, of course.

The entire building was in something of an uproar thanks to Stormy getting a little out of hand, but a few charged razor blades quickly discouraged anyone from getting too close. Feral and Thornn, thankfully, had still been in the cell where they through him when they were done with their modifications but Sarah had been a little harder to find. Fortunately a few threatening moves made by two she-cats and a charged razor blade held near the family jewels of one of Tomage Vode's employees had worked wonders. What they had found in the room they had been told Sarah had been taken shook them all. Tied to a bed with tubes stuck in her transferring some unknown type of liquid into her was Sarah with the body sculptor standing next to her. Before he had even time to comprehend it, the man's insides were now on the outside thanks to a charged razor blade to the chest. Taking the tubes out of Sarah, patching up her wounds and procuring a sample of the liquid for a closer look later, they then made their escape in an expensive looking BMW that had been in the parking lot. That pretty much brought things to where they were now since thankfully things had been pretty quiet the rest of the trip.

Now that they were in Sunnydale, it was his plan to head by Giles' place and have him give Thornn and Feral the whole 'world is older than you know' speech as well as a few other tidbits. Then he'd take them out on patrol so they could see the demon's first hand and listen to his stories of what the Scooby gang had faced in the past three years. While it'd be kinda nice if one of those end-of-the-school-year apocalypses happened so he could tie it directly to the Hellmouth, thus showing the two Morlock women why someone needed to keep an eye on the place he wasn't about to tempt fate by saying such things out loud. Still, he was worried that unless something big happened during the two cat-ladies' stay in Sunnydale, they would just report that while not a good place to visit, there wasn't anywhere near the danger he'd told Callisto about at the start of all this. That would lead to trouble since he did kinda owe the Morlocks for his part in Essex's attack and he didn't know just how seriously they took his 'replace the numbers you took' role. If it was important to him as Twinkies were then it could mean serious and painful problems for the Scoobies if he tried to stay rather than own up to Callisto's idea of his obligations to them.

Hearing the pitter-patter of new-teen feet, he looked up to see Sarah heading towards them from the ladies room, no longer looking like she was trying to walk with a rubber ball between her legs. Hopefully this meant that those slushies were out of her system, otherwise he was probably going to get more than a sentence or two out of Feral for his tendency to cave under Sarah's puppy dog eyes. He just couldn't help it when she did that! He might still be looking for a way out of the 'claimed by Sarah' situation but he'd still grown fond of the little lady over the past few weeks. Much like Willow, she'd slipped past his guards and fallen into little sister country and that would make it all the harder to say goodbye should he manage to convince Feral and Thorn of the necessity of him staying here. He knew there was a possibility of her deciding to stay with him, but that would make things more painful for her since it'd mean no seeing her Morlock family for months, assuming he managed to get enough money for the occasional trip to New York each time.

_Den again dere be more dan one way to make money, neh?_ Xander thought for a moment as his mind began to make a list of some choice places to steal from.

Fortunately he caught his Cajun self before things went too far and mentally did his best to remind that part of him that stealing from wealthy people in this town was liable to get him cursed or killed, depending on who lived where. Besides which, even if he could arrange for more frequent visits to New York, he'd probably have to restrict them to the summer time, since that was when demonic and supernatural activity in Sunnyhell tone down for the most part. In the end, though, it wouldn't have been right to keep her here away from her family just so he could stick close to his surrogate family, so all he could do in the end was hope that he managed to make one helluva presentation to the two catwomen or else he'd be honor bound to head back to the New York tunnels with them.

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Three Hours Later, Lopher Cemetery 

_Dis be definitely __**not**__ goin' de way I'd hoped!_ He thought no longer particularly caring if he was thinking in Cajun seeing as how he had more pressing concerns at the moment.

They'd been to Giles' place and after some quick explanations and a few 'why did you not tell us' moments, the G-man began his speech on the truth of existence of demonkind. It started with the canned 'the world is older than you know' speech, continued through a retelling of some of the adventures of the Scooby gang and then concluding with the current state of things atop the Hellmouth. Naturally all four non-Scoobies present found it all a bit hard to swallow, so he then took them on a patrol of the cemeteries with instructions to Stormy and Sarah to stick close to him. This little trip turned out to be more effective than Giles' speechifying since both Feral and Thorn got to see up close and personal what a vampire was as well as a Fyarl demon and a hellhound. While this did convince them of the existence of demons, it did little to convince them of the necessity of his permanent presence in Sunnyhell. That was why he'd decided on this little trip through the cemetery in the hopes that they'd run across some kind of serious demonic evil or something. Nothing end-of-the-worldish, of course, but definitely something that would satisfy their quota of evidence so he could stay in Sunnydale.

It was as they were passing the Cromwell mausoleum that he got his wish for something bigger than your average vampire or brutish demon. He didn't quite know what to make of what he was seeing, but in his eyes they looked like four rejects from some end of the world movie. One had a serious skull motif working with his get up and was paler than any vamp could ever hope to be. Another was a walking arsenal with blades, blasters and bombs hanging from every strap of leather he had wrapped around one limb or another. Next up was a woman who definitely took anorexia to an ugly extreme but at the same time didn't seem to be having any difficulty moving around at all. The last looked like someone took all the scabs, pus and snot in the entire United States of America and formed it into a loose male shape. The grossest thing though was that each time pus-man moved, a piece of him fell off and, oddly enough, the piece killed everything within a one foot radius when it hit the ground. All in all, it was the oddest quartet he'd ever seen in his life and considering the number of demons he'd fought, as well as the mutants he'd met, that was saying something. However the whole looting of an anonymous crypt in the middle of the night was something he was all too familiar with as well as the likely consequences of letting these four had their way tonight.

"You four looking for something? Maybe me and my friends here can help you out?" Xander said loudly enough to get their attention while at the same time reaching into one of his duster pockets for his weapon of choice.

The four demons looked at him, Feral and Thorn for a moment as if getting their measure but then turned back to their work on the Cromwell mausoleum. From what he could tell, they were looking for something but judging by their intense looks of scrutiny, he didn't think that it was something easily seen or recovered. That possibility was enough to get him to up the level of hostility towards these four since anything hidden in a mausoleum, in Sunnydale, and that rested atop a Hellmouth was definitely not something that should fall into the wrong hands, so Xander decided it was time to let the four demons know that ignoring him was not wise, especially when they were up to no good. Pulling out a four of clubs card, he used his mutant power to give it a charge equal to a flash/bang grenade and threw it so that it would hit the mausoleum then explode right in their faces. With aim that had only gotten better after he had the skills and knowledge of a Master Thief shoved into his head, the playing card hit its target and, like he'd planned, it blew up right in the four demons' faces. When the small cloud of smoke cleared, he could see that he had most definitely gotten the attention of the grave robbers but when he looked into their eyes, he had to wonder if that was the good thing he had thought it was five seconds ago.

_Not even Deadboy had a look like this when he went soulless. _He thought to himself as he reached for three cards inside of his duster jacket.

"Deal with these annoying pests, War. We must not keep Lord Apocalypse waiting," rasped the one with the death themed wardrobe.

"They will be dead in but a moment, Death." War said as he walked away from his comrades and drew a sword from a sheath that was strapped to his back, "For no mortal can endure longer than a moment against me."

_War? Death? I think I'm gonna hate where things go from here on out!_ He thought as he watched the approaching walking armory closely for the first sign of an emerging attack.

Unfortunately for him, Feral made this a reality as her natural aggressiveness caused her to be the first one to go on the offensive by charging the man head on with claws ready for tearing and cutting. Not wanting War to get a chance to cut the catwoman open, he threw the three cards in his hand at the armed man with each containing enough power to dent metal. One went to the killer's head, another to the arm that was holding the sword and the last one went to the man's right leg in the hopes of breaking his stance. With a sound not unlike three grenades going off, his cards hit their targets and, for a moment, the man was obscured by smoke but that didn't keep Feral from getting her claws bloody. She lunged into clouds of smoke, delivering a vicious vertical slash to the man but the sound of claws against metal did not make Xander very optimistic as to the damage she'd managed to do. He was proven to be right for when the smoke from his explosions finally cleared War stood tall and, aside from **some** scorch marks on his weapons, was completely unharmed. He'd seen what Feral's claws could do while they were making their escape from Tomage Vode and did not doubt their effectiveness in cutting whatever the woman set her mind to carving up, however it seemed as though the man's weapons and armor were made of sterner stuff than what could be purchased commercially.

"Are you two finished?" War asked, implying that he'd let them make the first move rather than being surprised by Feral's attack, "Good. My turn."

If he'd had any lingering doubts as to the appropriateness of the man's name it was gone in three seconds as the man crossed the distance between himself and Feral in the blink of an eye. A vicious slash from the man almost cut the woman in half but thankfully her cat-like agility and reaction time allowed her to get by with only a light cut on her lower leg. As though taking that as a personal challenge, the man pressed onward, not giving Maria a moment's rest, with each of his attacks coming within a hair's breadth of seriously cutting her. Thorn moved into aid her sister but this only provided the man who fancied himself the personification of War with a second target, doing little to improve her sister's odds of survival. Still with two targets to focus on, the space between blows that each had to deal with was significantly greater than it had been mano y kitty, thus increasing their odds. Odds or no odds, though, he was now convinced that they might have bitten off a bit more than they could chew with these four. At the moment they had their hands full fighting one of the four and that meant that if so much as one more of the quartet decided to join the fight, they'd be dead inside of five minutes. Mind a racing on figuring out a way to pull his, Feral and Thorn's fannies out of the fire, he decided the best they could do was get the hell out of the cemetery and get back to Giles' place. They needed more info on just who these four were and who this Lord Apocalypse was before they tried taking them on again.

_Time to see if these hommes know how to play fifty-two pick-up!_ He thought as he reached into the leather holster strapped to his waist and pulled out an entire deck full of cards.

"You like playin' for keeps, _mon brave_? Then **HERE**! Take a Card! Hell! Take dem all!" Xander yelled as he let loose a torrent of cards by bending the deck just the right way to send each card that became the bottom card flying.

Spraying them around in order to catch each of the four monsters, he hoped that by giving each card the explosive power of a bundle of TNT sticks it would be enough to knock them off balance for a minute or two. When the last of his charged cards left his hand, he ran over to where Feral and Thorn had leapt to when the explosive cards started flying.

"Time ta make out exits, ladies!" He said as he grabbed the less violent of the two sisters and began running for the entrance/exit to the cemetery.

"Coward! We can still take them! After your barrage I doubt they're half as strong as they were before!" Feral exclaimed looking like she was considering taking the four monsters on by herself if he and Thorn decided to make a run for it.

"Maybe your right. Maybe dey jus' need someone to put dem out of their misery." He said not even bothering to try and force his voice back to real English, "However if you be wrong den I jus' pissed them off an' we in for even more pain den before. I don' know 'bout you, chere, but I ain't too keen on sticking around to find out which it is."

"Sister, please, let's do what Xander asks for now." Thorn said, trying to pierce through the primal nature of her sibling, "I somehow doubt that if they survive those four killers will let us escape retribution for hurting them. You'll get another shot at them."

For a moment it looked as though not even Thorn's word's would shake her sister's resolve to continue fighting but when the catwoman relaxed her stance and sighed, he knew that Maria had caved. With nothing more than a look, they took off at a pace just short of all out for the entrance/exit of the cemetery and soon could see their car parked just outside the archway. However that was as far as they got when something small and baseball sized got tossed in their path, causing all three of them to leap away from it. As it was, that just saved them from being killed instantly as the force of the explosion sent stone and dirt everywhere with some of it being razor sharp. He could feel the fragments of stone hitting him and while most wouldn't do much more than leave some bruises for him as going away presents, one deep gash along his left thigh was not so nice. It cut deep and just managed to escape becoming lodged in his leg by a few inches, but it was enough to cause some bleeding to start. Cringing in pain, he looked about from his prone position to see what the state of the others might be and was not encouraged by what he saw. Feral was done and it looked like she'd taken something to the gut, though whether it broke the skin or just busted the bones beneath the skin he didn't know. All he could see was her on the ground curled up in a semi-fetal position with her arms wrapped around her torso but that was enough to make him worry.

Thorn was slightly better off, though it looked like she had lost about half a foot off of her tail, but the healing factor she shared with her sister would stop the bleeding and mend the damage inside of two hours. The rest of her wounds were pretty much light cuts and abrasions that would be lucky to last half an hour with her recovery abilities. Still, her injuries would distract her and, if his hunch was right, they'd need all of their focus to be on what was about to happen if they wanted to survive.

Looking in the direction that the explosive ball had come from, Xander saw War standing there, looking a little ruffled from his earlier barrage of charged cards but most of the damage was cosmetic. He also looked really pissed, which did not bode well for any of them, so with much pain as well as effort, Xander got to his feet and took out what Vode had intended to be his secondary weapon. After all, explosions drew a lot of attention and a thief got by on stealth more often than not since getting through a job with the mark being none the wiser was the mark of a true professional. At first glance it looked like a simple metal baton but, with a bit of pressure applied to just the right spot, it telescoped into a staff just a little shorter in length than he was. Careful to keep his weight off his injured leg, Xander decided that his next move had to be getting the bruiser pissed at him and only him. Not exactly a smart move but it would give Thorn, as well as Feral, time to heal as well as hopefully provide him with an opening to attack.

"Nice l'tle surprise, homme! You get dat from a box of cereal or swipe it from a baby?" Xander taunted, trying to sound distinctly unimpressed with his adversary's bomb.

"My basic weapons were provided by my Lord, but that grenade I constructed myself." War replied with a voice as cool as ice, "You and your friends did well to avoid the brunt of the blast but it obviously addled your brain somewhat if you think that child's toy will be effective against me."

"Maybe, but you know what dey, say mon ami: it ain't de weapon that makes th' man, but de man what make the weapon." Xander said with a devil may care tone, "How about you an' me see who be de better warrior, mon brave?"

"You are a fool to challenge the incarnation of war to battle, but if you wish to die in battle then I believe I can accommodate you." War replied as he took two scimitars from sheaths positioned on his hips, "Prepare yourself for oblivion, **FOOL!**"

"LEAVE MY HUSBAND ALONE!!" Came a cry of rage from the entrance/exit of the cemetery and it chilled him to the bone when his mind matched it to a person.

Turning to the entrance/exit of the cemetery, he was struck with fear as he saw Sarah running full tilt towards War with her bones grown out around her in sort-of-armor-but-not-really configuration and bone gauntlets on each hand with fingertips coming to a point like talons. War obviously didn't consider her a threat as he almost negligently swiped at her with one of the scimitars but that turned out to be a mistake. With grace you don't expect to see with anyone but a ten year veteran of close quarters combat, Sarah leapt over the blade and, with a savage slash, actually managed to slice open War's cheek. Knowing that this would only enrage the weapons master, Xander dove forward as best he could and began delivering blows with his staff as quickly as he could. This went on for a while with Sarah drawing blood and then him using staff to yank War's attention to him rather than the pink-haired Morlock. For a moment he actually thought that they might stand a chance at taking the guy down but apparently Mr. Murphy had something to say about that.

"ARROGANT MAGGOTS!!" War bellowed as some kind of energy wave exploded outwards from his body, sending both him and Sarah flying easily thirty feet.

The only bit of good luck he had was that his so-called betrothed had been within arm's reach when the wave had been emitted, so he was able to pull her towards him and thus cushion the blow for her a bit. Unfortunately that just meant the landing was more painful for him than it otherwise would have been, so it was kinda a good thing bad thing trade off. As Sarah rolled off of him, he could definitely feel the bruising along his back make itself known but was thankful that there were no broken bones beneath the bruises.

"You okay, petite?" Xander asked as he worked through the pain to get into a sitting position.

"A little rattled but otherwise fine," Sarah replied with such hostility and determination that he knew that the programming that the mind sculptor had shoved into her was at least partially in command right now.

It was something that he, Thorn, Stormy and Feral had discovered about five days after they had escaped from the slavers when they had stopped into a motel for the night. He, of course, had implemented the usual anti-vampire safeguards in an effort to make it safe but sadly those protections were only valid inside the room. He and Sarah had been on their way back from the convenience store across the street from the motel (they'd gone to get some snacks for the others, including enough Twinkies to enlighten them all about its sugary goodness) when a group of demons decided to show up. He had been able to pick out two vampires, three Fyarl demons and two weird looking demons with rubies embedded into their foreheads. For about three seconds he'd hoped that the two of them would be able to make it back to the others before things got dicey. Sadly when one of the ruby demons pointed a finger right in their direction, he had known that escape was no longer an option. Deciding to strike first, he pulled out a full hand of cards and threw them at the demons with each card being the equal of a stick of dynamite.

The vamps had been dusted and a fyarl was left groaning on the road but other than that all he'd done was piss them off.

He threw a few more cards but when the enemy closed to a distance where the blasts would hurt him as much as anyone else, he was forced to resort to his telescoping staff. Using a variation on the stick and move strategy, he did his best to keep himself between Sarah and the demons since he had not wanted her to come to harm. However by restricting the distance as well as direction he could move, the demons were given a sizeable advantage over him. All too soon Xander had found himself receiving blows that had his thief side yelling at him to cut his losses and run. Naturally being the **brilliant** warrior he was, he had refused to do that and, for his bravery, he got a fyarl fist in the jaw that sent him to the ground five feet away. On his back with his staff laying just outside of arms reach, he looked at the advancing demons with only one thought running through his mind.

I **am SO screwed!**

It had been at that moment that both he and the demons received a painful shock from a bone armor clad hellion named Sarah. It had shocked him speechless watching her deliver blow after bloody blow to the demons and, judging by the fact that over half of the remaining demons went down in the first twenty seconds of her assault, so were they. However surprise and shock only last for a short time and eventually a ruby demon managed to get a solid hit in with his mace knocking Sarah into a parked car that was nearby. The group of demons was now down to two fyarl and a ruby head but all of them looked pissed at the lacerations they'd received and probably would have exacted a painful form of retribution from them had Feral and Thorn not shown up in time. They managed to dispatch the remaining demons and once that was done, the two catwomen had aided him and Sarah into the hotel room. It was there that they learned from the calmed-down pink haired Morlock girl that when she had seen him knocked to the ground, a scratchy voice in her head had offered to kill the demons for her. She had gone on to explain that ever since they had escaped the slavers, she'd heard the voice at moments when she felt threatened. When he had carefully asked if the voice had a name, Sarah had nodded and said that the voice called itself Marrow.

He had been greatly disturbed by the possibility of Sarah having another personality lurking around her head, so he'd done his best to keep the dangerous situations to a minimum. Despite a few close calls, he'd managed to keep 'Marrow' from surfacing again but if the look he was now seeing on Sarah's face was what he thought it was then the second personality was on the verge of being released again. That would not be of the good, since he doubted that the berserker tactic would do anything other than get Sarah killed if she tried to use it on Death.

"I had considered being merciful and granting you all a quick, painless death but you have insulted me, **injured me**, and so now you will pay dearly!!" War bellowed as it swung his two scimitars like baseball bats and unleashed blades of energy that shot towards their targets like freight trains.

Grabbing Marrow by the shoulders, he ignored the pain he was feeling and rolled them both as quickly as he could to get out of the path of the oncoming attack. Feeling an intense heat just skim the surface of his back, Xander knew that he had just barely managed to escape getting his back sliced open. Picking up a fragment of a tombstone that had been broken off by the grenade War had thrown, he charged it up as much as he could in the space of the few seconds he had and, when he was once again on his back, he threw it at War. With the force of a block of C4 going, off the object charged with kinetic energy hit its target and let loose a cloud of flame that almost reached out to engulf him and the others but, fortunately, it dissipated at the last second. He did not move from his position but instead waited for the results of his attack and kept his free hand close to his next pack of playing cards just in case the rock failed to do its job. What he saw as the smoke cleared made him accept that this guy was way out of his group's league and defeating them existed somewhere between slim and none at the moment.

"Sarah? When I give you the word I want you to go to Feral and Thorn and get dem to the car as quickly as you can," he said in a tone that would brook no disobedience. "I'll keep him busy 'til you're done but den you're gonna have to come pick me up 'cause I don' think I'll be able to make the dash an' keep him busy at the same time. Comprendre?"

He didn't even need to look at her to know that she would refuse him so he did the one thing he knew he was going to regret later one way or the other.

He cupped her cheek with his hand and guided her eyes to his.

"Don' worry petite, Gambit ain' goin' nowhere. Now **go!**" He said before he let loose with a flurry of cards to keep War from interfering.

Pushing himself into a kneeling position, Xander continued to pepper War's last known location with charged cards while looking in Sarah's direction every now and again to check her progress. While both older women were taller than the bone girl, both of them were in good enough shape that they could support their own weight quite a bit and that left only what remained. Getting Thorn to the car would be the easy job since the older woman was probably the least injured of them all, but he knew that when Feral's turn came it would be much harder. Already he could tell that her natural healing factor had reduced the pain she'd been feeling to more manageable levels and that meant in another ten minutes she'd probably be well enough to act on the need for vengeance that was no doubt boiling within her. He just hoped that seeing how easily War was standing up to his explosive cards would cut through all that and convince her of the need for a tactical retreat, otherwise she was probably going to get everyone killed when they tried to save her from herself.

He was reaching for his second last deck of cards when he noticed a discouraging sight indeed in the form of his cards exploding well short of their target. It didn't take him long to realize that it had to be an energy barrier of some kind and that meant that direct attacks wouldn't do squat from here on out aside from waste ammo. So he decided to change tactics by aiming for the ground beneath War's feet instead in the hopes that there was a tunnel or sewer line beneath him. After all he knew the entire town was practically honeycombed with them, so the odds of him actually dropping War into one by taking out the ground beneath the warlord's feet were pretty good. The only down side was to get the necessary power into each explosion necessary to break up the earth beneath them he needed to hold onto the cards for longer than was healthy given his current situation. Fortunately though someone up in heaven proved that they liked him when a lucky volley of cards miraculously detonate what had to be a gas line increasing the potency of the blast considerably. At this sight he couldn't help but smile with satisfaction since a blast of that magnitude had to be enough to earn him enough time to get the hell out of the area with Sarah and the others. With that in mind he got to his feet and after retrieving his staff he used it as a walking stick to help him walk to the entrance/exit of the cemetery. He had almost made it when a sound like various machine parts coming together caught his attention and slowly forced him to look in the direction it was coming from. What he saw was enough to make him believe that Lady Luck had just played him for a fool by making the gas line explode.

Rising out of the flame filled hole atop a horse that looked like a cross between an AT-AT from Star Wars and a horse straight from the depths of Perdition itself was War. However this War was different from before since now the man was covered in what had to be the most intimidating suit of armor the Xan-man had ever seen. With blades accentuating the joints and symbols of some kind etched into the metal it wasn't hard to see why the man considered himself the personification of War. Fortunately as the sound of screeching tires reached his ears he knew that the opportunity to escape had arrive so with patience that could only have belonged to his thief half he waited until the headlights bathed the area around him before repeating his fifty-two pick up move. The difference this time though was that all the cards were directed at a single target allowing for a much more concentrated series of explosions. As the last card left his hands he turned and was grateful to see the whole gang in the car with Thorn behind the wheel with the passenger-side door open for him. Deciding that now was not the time for finesse he dove into the car as quickly as he could and by accident (really!) landed face first in Thorn's lap. As the car began to peel out of the cemetery he quickly repositioned himself into the passenger seat before slamming the door closed. Looking at Thorn he gave her a quick 'sorry about that' grin and was shocked to see her return his grin with one of her own.

Hers, though, was not one of apology but rather a 'I did not mind one bit' kind of grin that had him distinctly worried about what she'd do if she ever got some alone time with him. Deciding that a change of topic was needed for the sake of his sanity, he looked over his shoulder at the shrinking front gate of the cemetery to see if they were being pursued. He saw nothing though, nothing at all, and it made him wonder whether or not to consider this a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand it could mean that War had decided that the five of them weren't worth the aggravation but on the other hand it could a 'head them off at the pass' situation. Deciding that another fight needed to be avoided, he decided to think happy thoughts in the hopes that such things would keep Mr. Murphy from intervening as well as slam the door in the face of the ole Harris luck.

_Xander, jus' hope that he hasn' used up all his credit with Lady Luck a'ready!_ He thought too tired to even think about forcing his thoughts and words back into proper English.

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_**Back at the Cemetery, Same Time**_

"Enough War! Let them go." Death said as he, Pestilence and Famine walked up to the pit of flame that lay beneath their armor clad comrade.

"NO! They have dared to defy me and insult me by thinking that such paltry attacks could defeat me!" War bellowed with his wounded pride clear for all to see, "I will hunt them down and teach them the true meaning of fear, starting with the bone child!"

"Have you forgotten the reason we came here, War?" Famine asked with her hollow voice, "We were dispatched to the Hellmouth to gather the items needed to restore our Lord to full strength. Would you put your own desires above your duty to Him?"

That one question served to do what Death's command could not and, in an instant, the maelstrom of emotion was gone from War's eyes and in an instant both his metal steed as well as his armor was gone leaving only the form he'd been in when the battle started. Like a feather caught on the wind, he drifted down to join his brethren and, once on the ground, he glared at Famine as though she had insulted him.

"My loyalty to Lord Apocalypse is without limit and indestructible, Famine." War replied before turning to Death, "I assume the three of you managed to procure what we came here for?"

"Indeed. The Heart of Isis is now ours. The mortal Cromwell may have placed formidable wards around his resting place to keep it from us, but like all mortals, he lacked the foresight of our Lord." Death replied as he held up a ruby the size of a baseball yet cut to look like a human heart precisely.

"Then we have but to locate the scrolls of Ma'at and the spirit of Bast to complete the mission set before us by our Lord." War said with a small grin of pride at what his comrades had accomplished with him so far, "How fortunate it is for us that both items reside within this town of mortals. Soon our Lord will be fully restored and the cleansing of the weak from this world can begin in earnest! Glorious!!"

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_**1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, Westchester County, Same Time**_

"I found her!" Exclaimed Emma Frost as her eyes snapped open and she lifted the Cerebro helmet from her head, "The contact was very faint and somewhat disrupted but I'm positive that it was Storm."

"Is she alright?" Bobby Drake asked with concern about his favorite teacher.

"I did not detect any pain or distress but due to the lightness of the contact, I cannot say more." Emma replied as she closed her eyes to recover from the exertion of using Cerebro.

"Do you know where she is?" Logan asked from his position leaning against the doorframe of the entrance/exit to the Cerebro chamber.

"In California, someplace near Los Angeles, but that was as close as I could narrow it down to." She replied as she stood up and began to approach the de facto head of the school, "There was considerable disruption, like white noise, blocking my mind. If I go with you to California I might be able to get a better lock on her mind."

"Then let's get going. Bobby! Get Peter, Kurt, Kitty and Rogue together then meet us at the Blackbird." Logan ordered as the doors to the Cerebro chamber began to open.

"I'm on it!" Iceman said before he dashed down the hallways of the sub-basement of the mansion towards the elevator that would take him up.

Watching the boy go Logan couldn't help but recall how this whole mess had started just three months after losing Jeannie, One Eye and almost the Professor. It had been a spot of hope for everyone to learn that just before the Phoenix destroyed his body Charles had managed to transfer his mind into another body on Muir Island. While the body the founder of the school occupied needed some time to regain normal mobility after being motionless for so long it was coming along swimmingly. However it had been two months ago, when their search for Storm had hit an impasse, that they learned a horrible truth. While Xavier had managed to transfer his mind to another body his new host form was just a normal human and therefore without any special abilities of any kind. So while the man had escaped death it had cost him his telepathic powers in the process. It was lousy timing since they could have used the skills of such a potent telepath to search for Storm but they were able to find a suitable mind reader to step into that role and help them search. Emma Frost was apparently an old friend of the Professor's who had left him after some argument or another about the direction he was taking the school. When she'd been informed of the current crisis she had agreed to help them find their missing team member. It had taken two months straight to find Ororo Munroe but three weeks ago they'd caught a break. A few miles out of New Orleans Cerebro had detected a blip of Munroe's weather manipulation powers but just as soon as it had appeared it had vanished. Still it gave the mansion residents hope that they might still stand a chance at finding Ororo so Emma stayed at Cerebro almost around the clock to make sure that if another weather disruption was detected she could pin down the location that much faster. Today that dedication had paid off and with a little luck within the next few days Storm would be back home amongst friends and life would return to something approaching satisfactory.

"Hang on 'Ro. We're coming," Logan whispered more to himself than anyone else before he left the Cerebro chamber allowing the lights inside to switch off and the door to slide shut before locking.

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	22. Karma of Powers

"Karma of Powers" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

(BtVS/Gundam Seed/Gundam Seed Destiny/Gundam Wing/?)

[YAHF but only to get things moving

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material that will be written about in this drabble/short. They are the property of their creators and associated businesses. I am making no profit off of this. I am doing this because I enjoy writing and others seem to enjoy reading what I have to write. Therefore keep the lawyers on their leashes and your fingers away from the speed dial button on your cell phones. I can assure you have nothing that would come even close to the fee you'd be demanding in your lawsuit.

Note: This story came about because of a lot of things: seeing the dubbed version of Gundam Seed Destiny, being a fan of Gundam Wing, being a fan of BtVS and wanting to figure out a way to bring them all together in a way that would be both entertaining and feasible. It took awhile and I needed to review information in and download the relevant episodes for viewing but eventually I came up with a possible plot that met the two above requirements (at least I hope it did). In any case this will occur before and during the Halloween episode of BtVS but this will only be about ten percent YAHF since it was the only way I could think of to hook everything up in my plot. In the Gundam Seed universe this would take place around episode 20 of Gundam Seed. I don't wish to give exact dates since that would restrict me in terms of plot and possibly lead to conflicting facts.

Keep in mind that this is intended to just be a short/drabble with only the **majority** of mistakes and errors ironed out. If this idea receives enough votes from you the readers to convince me to turn it into a full fledged fanfic one day (I have a lot on my plate so I cannot say when exactly I will be able to get around to it) I will do my best to ensure that the number of mistakes and errors are reduced as close to one hundred percent as I can manage.

In any case I hope that you enjoy what you are about to read. Now on with the show…

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_Karma of Powers_

_**Realm of the Powers That Be, Shortly After the Defeat of the Master**_

"How in the name of the Creator did this happen!?" Exclaimed one of the revered group of celestial beings known collectively as The Powers That Be.

"How did that one **mortal**, that one **normal** mortal, manage to defy a prophecy we spent centuries putting into motion!?!" Asked another member partially in disbelief and partially in anger.

"We're still having our fate thread analysts and probability managers looking over every scrap of information leading up to the fracture point," spoke a more rational member of the group. "So far all signs show that for a period of twenty hours prior to the destined event, he somehow managed to slip out from his predetermined Fate track. At the time this happened we weren't all that concerned since he was just a normal human with no skills or abilities that would interfere with our designs. All our projections showed that at the very most he would become lost in the underground cave network beneath Sunnydale and barely escape to the surface later on after being pursued by numerous demons. Never in any of out scenario projections did we have him coming anywhere close to the event site, much less revive Slayer Summers."

"Well **obviously** someone in probability projection missed a variable because our plans for the next five years have been turned to ash like a lowly, dusted vampire! Not only that, but the one Slayer has now become two since the Slayer genes in former potential Kendra were activated the moment Slayer Summers was clinically dead!" The first speaker yelled, obviously not liking one bit that such carefully laid out plans had been rendered worthless.

"I'm afraid things might be even worse than we suspect, my comrades," spoke a calm and soothing voice from the seat of highest power among them.

"What do you mean, Chairwoman?" Asked the rational speaker, who outlined the overall situation.

"As soon as Slayer Summers was revived, I contacted our precognitive division to determine what the most likely path would be for the Earth if the mortal Alexander LaVelle Harris continued to 'slip' from his Fate track at crucial points along the way," the Chairwoman replied, sounding genuinely troubled and that had the others worried considering her usual stoic state. "So far they predict that not only will Slayer Summers exceed the maximum set lifespan for a Slayer by four years but the mortal Harris will also play a key roll in the destruction of no less than four high level threats over the next five years alone. The most troubling of the predictions is a violation of the most sacred process, the cycle of life and death that could potentially grant our main enemy enough purchase on the mortal plain to pave the way for its full return."

"You don't mean!?" Gasped one of the members in fear.

"The First Evil," exclaimed the one who had been so angry at the destruction of their plans.

"Yes. While the precognitive division states that he was only one of four people responsible for the violation, it was also clear to them that it was his continued presence in Sunnydale coupled with the possibility of future unforeseen actions on his part that allowed the situation to develop that far," The Chairwoman said, managing to reclaim most of her former stoic state. "While I know that our plans for humanity and Earth as a whole might be construed by some of our more compassionate brothers and sisters as being harsh and in some cases outright cruel, it is all for the greater good. We have been fighting against the forces of darkness since Lucifer first drew a weapon against the Creator and have been directing the forces of light ever since. We have both the wisdom and experience to guide the struggle to the best possible outcome for all who dwell within the light. Therefore we must now take action that I had hoped we would never again have to take against one of the Creator's children. We must remove Alexander 'Xander' Harris from the face of the Earth if not that very dimension."

"W-while I agree that we must take action, Chairwoman, you know the Creator's position on such actions. He made it rather clear the last time we did what you propose that the free will of mortal kind was never to be so blatantly usurped by us again," the Summarizer said with distinct unease at where things were going. "He even reiterated our original mission statement which stated that it was our job to organize the forces of light to fight as one in the fight against the darkness rather than let them act independently of each other. If we do something like that again, we might not escape punishment so easily."

"I am fully aware of the Creator's fondness for allowing the mortals to 'find their own paths' and what our mission was in the beginning, however that mandate was created millennia ago and circumstances have changed since then and not necessarily for the better. If we are to win our struggle against Lucifer and his dark brood, exceptions must be made and, if necessary, certain rules must be bent," the Chairwoman said firmly, never once losing her composure. "Fortunately for us, though, an opportunity has arisen on Earth that will allow us to remove Harris without invoking the wrath of the Creator. A chaos mage named Ethan Rayne has arrived in Sunnydale and plans to cast a spell Halloween night to transform all who buy something from his store into what they wish to portray. If 'by chance' Harris were to be transformed into something suitably impressive and remained so for, say, ten minutes after the spell has been broken, then we would have to take action to restore the balance."

"Won't the Creator simply order us to use our powers to return the Harris mortal to his original state or perhaps do so himself?" The Summarizer asked, wanting to make sure that the Chairwoman had all the angles worked out before committing to anything.

"We will say that, due to the chaos magic used in the transformation and the unexplained reason for the altered Xander Harris remaining, that it would be dangerous to take premature action. We will say that instead we will remove Harris from that plane of existence and study his altered condition thoroughly before taking any steps to restore him to his natural state. That would be the reasonable course of action to take and it has the mortal's best interest at heart," the Chairwoman replied, making the reasons sound perfectly reasonable and practical. "That should be enough to appease the Creator's interest enough for him to resume his other duties and not look upon us so closely. Once his gaze is no longer fixed upon us, we will get rid of Harris completely by casting him into the nexus of realities. He will either be obliterated by the conflicting energies of that realm or he will be deposited into a reality he cannot possibly return from."

"Still, we will have to play this very carefully, Chairwoman. The Creator is no fool and will certainly see our true intentions if any mistakes are made in how the situation is handled," said the being who first opened the topic up for discussion.

"Agreed, however we have been making plans and constructing strategies against adversaries for centuries untold, so I doubt we'll make such mistakes," said the Chairwoman with utmost confidence. "Begin with the preliminary measures and, once finished, begin moving the chess pieces. It will all come together in the end. Yes, it will come together, I'll make sure of it."

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_**Unknown Location, Unknown Realm Running Alongside the Buffy 'verse**_

"Well, well, well! Finally! That board of bores finally comes up with an idea that is somewhat interesting!" Came a voice from behind The Creator, who was far more aware of what his subordinates were up to then they would ever believe.

Of course they couldn't help it for he/she was as far above them as they were above most mortal species and so it was literally impossible for them to do anything without him/her knowing. He/she merely allowed them the illusion that it was within their abilities to conceal things from him/her, since it would make interacting with them a little easier. Now, though, he/she had to wonder if she had been giving them a little too much leeway when it came to leading the forces of the light against the darkness. This was the second time that they were contemplating going against his/her decree that the mortal races be allowed to exert their own free will. The last time it happened, he/she had been forced to put into motion the Reformation of his/her followers on Earth, causing her eventual desire for a unified Earth to be set back considerably. Add to that the fact that his/her 'cousin' from the reality five continuums over was now interested in how things were going and that could only mean that things were about to get **interesting**.

Or chaotic, since the two often went hand-in-hand when he was around.

"Oh, don't be so upset, my dear cousin. I assure you that I have no intention of making your job any harder than it already is with this reality," His/her cousin said, sounding almost sincere if it wasn't for the grin he had on his face. "I just thought that maybe we should let them have their little bit of fun, so long as we get to determine the ending. After all, I am sure you are aware of the troubles your Earth will be facing in the coming years and having an unexpected ace dealt to you might come in handy."

As much as he/she hated to admit it, the next few years for Earth would be difficult, especially with regards to threats not of that world. He/she had seen the initial projections and, while the end result did favor the light, the number of deaths, both civilian and champion, were significant. He/She had discussed this with his/her advisors and, based on the data they had, they agreed that the planned route was the most beneficial to the light possible. Considering, though, that the data came from divisions under the control of the Powers That Be, he/she had to wonder at the reliability of such information. Seeing what his/her cousin was implying, he/she agreed that with a little tweaking the scenario devised by the Chairwoman could be made to greatly improve the results of the next few battles between the light and the dark. However it would take precise timing in order to reroute the ending before the council known as the Powers That Be could interfere in anyway. While he/she was more powerful than all of them combined, to use more than a sliver of his/her power on the mortal plane would create great disruption of the natural balances that existed therein.

Such was the price of possessing the Power Almighty.

"If it would make things easier on you, I'd be happy to lend a hand," His/her cousin said with 'genuine' honesty. "While I'll admit that my powers aren't in the same league as your own, I do have a talent for disrupting the plans of beings who think they're in control."

He/she had to grant him that. After all, he'd even managed to trick his own family into accepting certain changes while making them think that they'd consented of their own free will for their own reasons. Add to that the fact that he/she was the only one who knew he was in this 'neck of the woods' and the Powers That Be would be completely taken by surprise when he popped out of nowhere to spoil their plans for the mortal Xander Harris. So, after a moment's consideration, he/she gave her cousin permission to handle the matter as he saw fit so long as he didn't get too carried away.

"You won't regret this, 'dear cousin'! I promise," he said, and with a snap of his fingers, he vanished in a flash of light to go about his mission.

_I already am cousin._ He/she thought as her omniscience immediately enlightened him/her on how bad things could go with her cousin at the wheel_, I already am._

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_**Ethan's Costume Shop, Two Hours Prior to the Start of the Chaperon Assignment**_

_When it rains, it __**fuckin'**__ pours!!_ Xander thought angrily as he mentally counted down the three things that had transpired to ruin his day considerably.

First there was the fact that he'd gotten roped into being a chaperon for a bunch of ankle biters from the local elementary school. He'd had planned to just be a couch potato at the Summers home, enjoying a few award winning horror flicks while sneaking a few handfuls of the sweets Mrs. S would probably have by the door. He'd even done some preliminary work on a plan to get Buffy so scared by one of the movies that she'd glomp onto him without even knowing what she was doing. He knew it would take something pretty out of the ordinary or perhaps genuinely scary to provoke the necessary but he had made sure his movie selection would do what he wanted it to. Now though thanks to the Troll Snyder he'd have no choice but to trash his plans and endure what was likely to be two hours of brats asking him annoying questions and running all over the place with him chasing after them. It would of course only get worse as more and more sugar got into the brats' systems and while he would never speak out against all forms of sugary goodness even he had to admit that the substance was dangerous in the wrong hands. In any case he had his task for the night and would do his best not to snap at the kids no matter how hard they tap danced on his last nerve.

The second thing to ruin his day was the fact that Buffy had 'saved him' from Larry in front of the 'sometimes-working-sometimes-not' soda machine. It had started out like most of his encounters started out with Larry but this time around he'd planned to score some beaucoup respect points from his fellow students by standing up to the jock. It had been going pretty good until her Slayerness showed up and manhandled the linebacker off of him and intimidated the caveman into retreating. However it did the complete opposite of what he'd hoped the situation would do for him by making him look like a sissy man in front of the entire school population. They'd now think that he was so weak that he needed a girl half the size of Larry to protect him rather than do it himself. The worst part of it all was that Buffy didn't even realize that she'd trampled all over his manly pride, she actually thought she was doing him a **favor**, and just now aborted her heartfelt apology in order to gush over a frilly dress she was probably going to wear for Deadboy.

That of course led to problem number three: the fact that the asshole at the army surplus store had sold the army fatigues he'd specifically asked to be set aside from him. He'd come across the outfit when he'd decided to prepare for the possibility that Willow and Buffy might want to spin by the Bronze for the Halloween party there. He'd had a costume idea all planned out that would come nicely under his twenty dollar budget with enough left over for a package of Twinkies. Now with the fatigues in the hands of someone else he had twenty dollars but now no idea how he could use it to put together a worthwhile costume.

That was what he was doing at the moment, walking up and down the rows of costumes looking for something in his price range while inspecting the various prop bins to see if inspiration would hit him. So far he had nothing since most of the costumes he'd be satisfied wearing were at least fifteen dollars over the amount of money he had. If inspiration was a young woman then she was giving him the silent treatment **big time** at the moment. He was about to leave to see if Party Town had some leftovers that some rich fop neglected to pick up and that they might be willing to let go for twenty dollars just to get rid of it when he spotted the spark of inspiration in the distance. It was a bin of odds and ends that caught his attention because when he combined them with what he had at home in his room it formed an uber-cool costume idea. What he saw was what looked like a Star Trek Comm badge and next to it in the bin was a handful of pieces that looked like they came from Star Trek and Gundam model kits. Plastic bags with stickers were also present and obviously went with the model pieces plus something that was probably meant to be a drop pod of some kind for some show. He couldn't be certain but he figured that if he used the pieces to make one whole Gundam model that it just might be able to fit inside the toy drop pod. One after another pieces began to fall into place for him as far as what his costume would be and what he could use to make it.

_I'll need this and this! Hmmmm, maybe that but a different type._ He thought as he began to pick the odds and ends he wanted from the bin, _I've got the tank top and jeans at home as well as the jacket but I'll probably need to check the wig section of this place since his hair color is different from mine._

It took about ten minutes but eventually he was able to find everything in the store he wanted, even the wig, and surprise of surprises the shop owner was willing to let it all go even though the total came up to almost three times what had on the cash register. When he brought this up the owner said that since his store was new in town he needed good word of mouth more than he needed money at the moment. That certainly seemed plausible to him but something in his Sunnydale senses was telling him to be wary around this man. Then a thought struck him that while a certain level of paranoia was healthy in Sunnyhell being too paranoid would only cause problems for him in the long run. So despite his better judgment he would ignore his inner danger sense and accept the shop owner's generosity as just that rather than something more devious.

With that he walked out the door with the pieces to his costume eagerly looking forward to finding out if his idea could indeed be brought into being.

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_**The Council Chambers of the Powers That Be, Same Time**_

"He's taken the first piece of our plan," The Summarizer reported to her colleagues arrayed around her.

"It was a near thing to place those feelings of inspiration, those ideas, in his head as well as quiet his Hellmouth-developed caution," stated the one who had been so upset that the plans he and his comrades had made were rendered useless by Harris' actions. "If we had exerted any more of our power on him it would have attracted too much attention on both sides. I suppose it's a good thing he has such an undisciplined mind, otherwise he might have been able to resist our efforts or at least suspect someone was influencing him."

"I think you overrate mortals just a bit, my friend. While I will admit that there are a select few mortals capable of sensing or perceiving our actions when they are close enough, there is nothing in Harris to suggest he is one of these few." Said another with some derision since he considered the very thought that a mortal could oppose their will insane, "In any case, all we have to do now is make sure that events proceed according to plan and that means making the change that Harris goes through as potent and complete as possible. The more it appears the change will not go away on its own, the more our actions will appear to be justified in the eyes of the Creator."

There were murmurs of agreement throughout the entire group, since they all believed that their plan would work especially since the first part worked out so well.

"For now, though, it is a waiting game until the mortal Ethan Rayne enacts his spell with Janus. Once that is activated, we can use our power to influence the changes done on Harris and tailor them to meet our needs." The Chairwoman stated in order to remind her subordinates that they still had a ways to go before achieving their goal, "I suggest that you all review your parts in the next stage and prepare well for it. We will only get one chance at this so we must do it with complete perfection."

More murmurs of agreement filled the area and not one speck of hesitation was present in their voices.

Such behavior is to be expected considering that aside from one other incident all of their plans have gone exactly the way they wanted without the slightest deviation.

For they were the Powers That Be and they were always right.

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_**Watching From a Corner of Subspace Nearby**_

"Those arrogant **fools!** Hahahahahahaha! They act like pompous Romulan senators complimenting each other over their latest political conquests," chuckled a man with thick black hair dressed in red and black clothes. "How little they realize where they stand in the great scheme of things. They are mere desk jockeys thinking they can run things however they like without any concern that they might get caught. How amusing it will be to prove them wrong!"

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_**Walking the Streets of Sunnydale's Residential Area, Just Before The Janus Spell**_

_Well this could have gone better!_ He thought to himself as he guided his group of kids down the street to the next house.

He'd shown up at Buffy's place, all dressed up in his costume ready to amaze her with his resourcefulness and creativity. After all, it's not an easy thing to put together a great costume on such a limited budget, but he'd done it and done it well as far as he was concerned. The first thing he'd done when he'd gotten home was assemble the model pieces into the shape he wanted. It was a bit difficult, since many of them belonged to completely different model kits, but with a little ingenuity (plus liberal use of a serrated knife) he'd managed to get everything to look just right. The hard part had been to get the glue to set faster since he didn't have the time to wait the normal amount of time if he wanted to get to Buff's house in time to meet up with them. He'd used a combination of his mother's blow dryer and the kitchen stove to harden the glue and then used a box of permanent markers to color the model with the colors that best matched what he was going for. This was painstakingly done so he wouldn't have to worry about people making fun of him for doing such a crappy coloring job on the model. Once the model was complete, he carefully placed into the drop pod making sure that while it might have been a snug fit model pieces wouldn't snap off due to the cramped quarters. With the prop part of his costume done he quickly put on clothes associated with his character before slipping the brown wild-haired wig on his head. He knew he'd be a little off because of the color of his eyes, but he hadn't seen any costume contact lenses in the store and hadn't had time to ask the store manager. If anyone asked he'd make something up like he was on an undercover mission that required brown eyes or that he'd contracted some kind of eye condition. The Federation communications badge he put out in plain sight and already had a half-baked explanation for its presence should anyone ask.

Unfortunately when Buffy had seen his outfit, she had been utterly clueless about who he was supposed to be and that was after he said he was Heero Yuy with the whole 'reporting as ordered' schtick the pilot was known for. He'd kept his voice cold and business-like and only gave that up once he realized it was useless on the blonde Slayer. He'd then explained the background of who he was supposed to be in the hopes that it would inspire a little more respect as well as understanding. He explained that he was the Heero Yuy from a few months after Gundam Wing Endless Waltz and that he had been asked by Relena Peacecraft to investigate the disappearance of several ships. An area near the edge of the maximum range of their transports had claimed several long range exploration ships that been assigned to investigate a mysterious energy reading detected by the nearest colony. While there were no signs of the ships having been destroyed all attempts to re-establish contact with them had failed and both the colony as well as Earth governments wanted answers. Reluctantly Heero had agreed to the mission and along with a reconstructed Wing Zero the pilot had set out for the area in question. The reason for restoring Zero had been a precaution in case the cause of the missing ships turned out to be more than the transport ship could handle with its moderate armaments.

When the transport ship arrives they find the missing ships dissected and the bodies of the crews scattered around in the vacuum of space. They begin a preliminary investigation with Heero going out in the Wing Zero to take a closer look at the damage to the ships. In the end it was the fact that he was not on board the transport ship that caused the unexpected confrontation to last more than a few moments. With a ripple-like distortion in space an unfamiliar craft came into being that was larger than anything known to Gundam Wing universe. While not approaching the size of the mobile fortress Libra it made the transport look like most mobile suits did to the colonies. Without warning the unknown ship, which was in fact a D'deridex-class warbird from the Romulan Empire of Star Trek fame, began to lay siege to the transport ship by carefully targeting its primary systems. In response to this Heero went on the offensive but even with a direct hit from his twin barreled buster rifle all he managed to do was provoke a few discouraging blasts from the warbird. It was only when he managed to detonate one of its torpedoes at a critical point when it passed through the deflector shields did matters improve. It temporarily disrupt the stability of the shields giving Heero a chance to get through them and attack the ship directly without the energy barrier getting in the way.

The battle quickly turned in favor of the Wing Zero since not only did it have the destructive potential to seriously damage the ship but also it was too fast and maneuverable to hit. Eventually the Romulan in command of the Warbird decided to take desperate measures to save his ship by activating the device used to come to the Gundam Reality in the fist place. It created a massive spatial distortion easily twice the size of the warbird and while the Romulan craft was able to navigate despite the energy pulses the distortion sent out the Wing Zero wound up getting knocked about like a rag doll. Convinced that the small but dangerous craft would be pummeled into oblivion by the energy pulses the Romulan commander decided on two final actions. He would destroy the transport vessel that had brought the Gundam to the area to maintain the anonymity his mission here required and he would return home for repairs. However thanks to Heero's cool analytical thinking coupled with the Zero system the pilot was able to predict this and in an act that spoke well of his skills he fired one final shot from his buster rifle. This shot managed to trigger a cascade in the Warbird's main reactor preventing the Romulan commander from destroying the transport but also causing the spatial distortion to become increasingly chaotic. As a result both the Warbird and the Gundam get pulled into it, leaving only the transport to carry the news of what happened back to the colonies and the Earth governments.

When Heero woke up he found himself aboard a Federation starship heading towards DS9 with the face of the newest version of the EMH program leaning over him. After a brief misunderstanding Heero got informed by the ship's captain that they found him drifting inside his heavily damaged Gundam near the DMZ along with the remains of a Romulan Warbird. A Q&A session followed in which Heero gave very guard responses since didn't trust the other unknown military man any farther than he could throw the Wing Zero one handed. It took a few unscheduled disappearances for him to independently confirm what he had been told but eventually he was satisfied that what he was seeing was not a fabrication nor that these people intended him harm. It was about this time that he realized he was losing his audience so he just summarized the rest by saying that some bad guys decided to make mobile suits of their own using the Wing Zero as a base idea. As a result Heero felt obligated to put a stop to them and with the help of the starship crew the Wing Zero was not only repaired but upgraded with twenty-fourth century technology. Everything from pulse and beam phasers to deflector shields to a mini-cloaking device got installed in the new Federation Wing Zero along with a tri-barrel buster rifle capable of hitting with the same punch as a Defiant class starship. With his character summary and background delivered he waited to see what Buffy's response would be.

"That's…interesting." Was what he got and he could tell that Buffy had to think before choosing that last word.

From there on until they all got to the school he was pretty much in an annoyed mood since Buffy didn't appreciate the minor accomplishment he'd managed with only twenty dollars. Willow wasn't much better but at least she knew what he was talking about when he mentioned Heero Yuy, Gundams and Romulan Warbirds. However everything she knew was pretty much what he had related to her in the past so was only a little more informed than the blonde Slayer had been. Still when he got to the student lounge he had resolved to put on his best smile and had hoped that at least the brats might know who Heero Yuy was and what Gundams were. Sadly his hopes were dashed and to make matters worse there was one brat in particular that took special pleasure in driving him nuts with either endless questions or surprisingly good insults. That pretty much led him to where he was now and that was using all his strength to keep from strangling the kid while escorting the others to one house after another. Looking at his watch he saw that he had about forty-five more minutes before he had to start herding the ankle biters back to the school. However listening to the kid rattle off another question he couldn't answer without getting into trouble later he wasn't sure he could last that long.

All of a sudden a wave of energy rippled outwards across Sunnydale and when it hit a select few a transformation occurred causing them to become not who they were but who they pretended to be. No longer did Alexander LaVelle Harris stand on the street cursing his bad luck. Instead Heero Yuy, dimensionally displaced Gundam pilot, scanned his surroundings and attempted to comprehend what exactly had just happened to him. The last thing he remembered was being on Risa to meet with an informant who had information on where Section 31's main mobile suit production facility was located. Now he appeared to have been transported to a planet that looked a lot like Earth, the Earth he was from, but he didn't drop his guard so much as an inch. With all the technology he had encountered since being transported to the Federation he knew this could be anything from a fabricated environment to a holodeck of some kind. A growl from his right cut off any further deduction and when he turned to look at the source of the primal sound he was surprised to see a small vicious looking alien leaping at him with claws extended. With skill honed through training and experience he dropped backward and used the creatures own momentum to throw it clear to the other side of the street. Both he and the creature quickly reoriented themselves but one look in his eyes was apparently enough to convince the creature that he was not facing prey at the moment but instead another predator. With a final growl of anger the small hostile creature scampered off in search of prey leaving him to resume trying to figure out where he was and why he had been brought here.

Withdrawing his type 2 hand phaser from its holster beneath his jacket, he set it to heavy stun and decided to relocate to a more defendable location before planning his next move. Thus, with precise yet swift steps, he began to make his way down the street and out of what appeared to be the residential area of where ever he was.

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_**Realm of the Powers That Be, One Hour Later**_

"I believe it is time to build up the suspense in preparation for the big finale, my fellow Powers." The Chairwoman said with a satisfied smile as they watched Harris aid their altered Slayer in evading the demons that sought to kill her in her weakened state, "Harris has still not summoned the 'Gundam' and without that, the Creator will never sanction his removal from the mortal plane."

"Not to worry, Chairwoman. I anticipated that something like this might happen so I ensured that the appropriate incentive would be at the ready should it become necessary to use it." Stated the Summarizer with a voice filled with confidence, "Observe."

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_**Warehouse District of Sunnydale, Same Time**_

"Prepare to fall back. We won't be able to hold out much longer against in these conditions." He ordered calmly as he used a shotgun he had appropriated from the back of a police squad car to blow the kneecaps off of an approaching demon.

It had been an unusual night for him to say the least and consider what he had encountered and done as a Gundam pilot that was no small feat. Even the beings he encountered after being displaced into the Federation's reality lacked the ferocity, the malevolence that these 'demons' exuded. He had encountered them at random in the beginning when he had attempted to locate a strategically sound location to evaluate the situation at but that had changed when he'd encountered the hologram of the redheaded young woman. He'd assumed that she was like the EMH program on Voyager in that she was as close to sentient as a collection of photons could be and that she possessed a mobile holographic emitter somewhere on her person (although he had been unable to locate it despite fact little fabric made up the clothes she was wearing and what was there was skin tight). There had been a brief period of mistaken identity, possibly as a result of some damage to her program, but eventually she began to make sense and explained the situation. According to the hologram a diplomatic delegation that had been meeting on Risa had been abducted by Section 31 for the purpose of turning them into sleeper agents by manipulating their sense of reality. This was apparently done via neurogenic implants and a cutting edge holodeck so that the subjects could be attacked from two different sources.

The hologram, who identified herself as Willow, had been slipped into the simulation by a deep cover Federation Intelligence operative both to keep tabs on things and look for a way to shut the system down from the inside. When he asked her to summarize the progress she'd made so far with her secondary objective she stated that Section 31 had been thorough in their construction of this holodeck. None of the usual controls could be accessed from the inside and as far as she could tell the program had been made with certain safeties in place that prevented use of holographic objects to disrupt the system. In short they were locked inside with no visible means to escape and that meant they had only one choice: they had to keep the delegation alive as long as possible until Starfleet could locate them and shut things down themselves. Thus he had become a part of a group of four (five if you included the hologram) that Willow insisted made up the entirety of the delegation and spent the better part of the last hour evading hostile threats. Sadly that had come to an end five minutes ago when a large group of enemies approached them and blocked their every effort at retreating through the appearance of additional members at all the primary escape routes. The only bit of good luck that he'd had was finding the shotgun in the back of the police car and he only had one more box of shells before the weapon's use went from projectile weapon to blunt object. That had been why he'd told the others to begin to fall back and while the only place they could fall back to was the nearest warehouse it was better than nothing.

However just as he was about to move in closer to the delegates in order to ensure he could not be cut off from them easily an object falling from the sky caught his eye. It looked to be a staff of some kind with a crescent moon shaped piece of metal at the top with a ruby embedded in the of the quarter mood shaped piece of steel. At first he didn't pay it much mind since it would not land in the immediate area and did not look like it was a serious threat. He was half turned away from the direction he'd been looking when all of a sudden a violent earthquake began to shake up the area and as he looked back in the direction of the falling staff he saw a chaotic storm of energy lashing out in all directions where he'd predicted the staff would land.

_Was it some kind of seismic device?_ He thought as he focused on keeping his footing.

His ignorance concerning the nature of the staff was soon remedied as a large golden armored creature with wings sprouted up from ground zero of the energy storm until it reached a size slightly larger than Epyon had been. This combined with the monster's immediate acts of violence solidified its status as a threat but when his mind attempted to devise a means of dealing with the threat he was at a loss. While the violent earthquake and the sudden appearance of the giant monster had scattered the demons formerly pursuing the delegation he was still without a viable weapon to deal with an enemy of that size.

"Pendragon to Heero Yuy! Respond!" Came a voice from his com badge that he hadn't expected to hear considering where he was.

"I'm here Captain." He said after touching his badge to activate his side of the connection.

"Good! We've just arrived with a Federation task force and are currently fighting Section 31's forces. What's your situation?" asked the Captain professionally as sounds of bridge chatter and explosions echoed in the background.

"I've managed to keep the three delegates and the hologram alive but a new problem as just cropped up. Two minutes ago a staff fell from the sky in the holodeck and caused a monster to grow in size considerably." He replied summarizing the current situation, "Current weaponry is insufficient to deal with it and aside from staying out of its range I don't have any other ideas to keep the delegates from being killed."

"Don't worry! We have a solution ready to deliver." The Captain stated with satisfaction, "Tell the delegates to get as close to you as possible. We're going to drop the Wing Zero as close to you as we can."

"Drop it? You mean we aren't underground or in a structure?" he asked with minimal surprise in his voice.

"No. It looks like a conventional holodeck was insufficient for what Section 31 was planning. Instead they constructed a force field dome a mile in diameter and are using that to create a large scale simulation." Replied the Captain over the com line, "The defenses around it are tough but Commander T'Pring has installed enhanced multi-phasic shielding around the drop pod. It should make it through both the defenses and the dome around you without difficulty."

"Understood." He said having faith in the skills of the crew of the Federation starship Pendragon.

Turning to the three delegates he chose to relocate to their position rather than get them to come to him since the one in the noblewoman's dress was too frightened to move an inch. As for the man in black he looked like he would stick close to the noblewoman no matter what so if she wouldn't move then neither would he. The young woman in spandex obviously was one of those that followed the will of the majority, high class to the hilt, which meant that she would stay with the other two. So instead of wasting time trying to convince them to come to him he would go to them. What he would do once Wing Zero arrived was something he had to consider since he could not be in two places at once. While it was true that most of the human sized creatures had fled once the giant one appeared he could not discount the possibility that they would return once he started fighting the giant one. Realistically that would be the perfect moment for Section 31 to minimize their losses by killing the delegates before the task forces breached their defenses entirely and rescued them. While this would be officially a failure as far as their mission to turn the delegates into sleeper agents it would eliminate some major pieces of evidence.

_However the large creature is the greater threat._ He thought as the sound of conflicting forces manifested above him, _I'll just have to finish the creature quickly._

As the sound of conflicting forces reached its peak the 'sky' above him opened up to reveal Wing Zero's drop pod against a crimson sky. However this lasted only for a moment because once the pod had cleared the hole it sealed itself back up with surprising speed. He filed what he saw away in the back of his mind though as the pod impacted on the street forty feet in front of him. Right now he had to board his Gundam and dispatch the giant creature now approaching his position before Section 31 could fully react to the change in circumstances.

"Stick together and stay on guard." He told the delegates in the hope that they would obey, "I'll finish this quickly."

Without further words he ran as fast as he could towards the pod and once there sought out the control panel that would allow him to open the pod. It took ten seconds but it felt longer as he could feel each ground shake each time the giant took a step and it was definitely getting closer by the second. Tapping in his access code he watched at the pod opened up like a flower blossoming to reveal the Wing Zero standing proud as though telling him that it was ready for whatever battle he needed its strength for. Hopping up to the floor of the pod he pressed the hidden button on the foot of the mobile suit causing the cockpit to open up and lower the grapple line. As soon as it came within range he placed his foot in the stirrup and activated the mechanism that would retract it bringing him up to the level of the cockpit in seconds. Turning in the direction of the approaching monster he could tell that it had caught on to what he intended to do for it had picked up its pace considerably and had its huge sword ready to cut his Gundam in two. With a hop and quick reorientation of his body he landed in the seat of the cockpit causing the hatch to automatically close.

"Initiate emergency activation sequence. Authorization Herro alpha two three nine." He said knowing that the audio receptors inside of the suit would pick up his voice and obey his command.

Like the mobile suit had a mind of its own systems came online one after another at a much faster rate than could be accomplished by human hands. It was because of this that he was able to pull Wing Zero's beam saber from its sheath and ignite it in time to block the blade of the attacking monster. Without even waiting to take satisfaction in the beastman's shock he made his Gundam deliver a powerful shoulder check forcing the monster to scramble to remain on its feet. Deciding to make it even more difficult for the monster wearing golden armor he let loose with a full barrage from both his beam and pulse phasers. This did the trick as it caused the creature to actually cry out in pain as it fell to the ground but even before the dust settled the beast was back on its feet ready to launch an attack of its own. Fortunately for him the man beast's technique was sloppy and easy to anticipate so he had no trouble bringing his shield up to block the energy attack unleashed as the monster slashed with his sword. Firing up his atmospheric thrusters he lifted into the air until he was sure he'd clear all of the rooftops in the area then flew forward to deliver a slash of his own with his beam saber. The creature managed to get its sword up to guard in time but it was clear from the images on the screen that Wing Zero was at least twenty percent stronger than it was. Using this to his advantage he quickly twisted the Wing Zero's position so that the enemy's blade would slide off it quickly causing the creature to lose its balance faster than it could compensate. Then with a swift downward vertical slash the beast man's sword hand was severed causing both detached limb and the giant sword to fall to the ground.

"Curse you!" Roared the beast man as it spoke for the first time.

"If you didn't want to get hurt then you shouldn't have come here in the first place." He said allowing the audio receivers and the external speakers to carry his voice to the monster, "Now it's too late to turn back."

However the battle was quickly reaching the point that he designated as 'too long' and he knew he had to finish this quickly or risk allowing one of the delegates to come to harm. So with a swift movement of the controls he had Wing Zero deliver a powerful side kick to the monster sending it tumbling a full twenty blocks away. With smooth motion he removed his tri-barrel buster rifle from its holster in the shield and took aim at the creature intending to end the fight with this final blow. Watching as the crosshairs on his HUD shudder for a bit before settling on the monster and turning green thus signifying a positive target lock. With no hesitation he fired unleashing a blast capable of matching a Defiant class starship's phaser banks in terms of power but at the same time with accuracy one would only expect from a precision sniping weapon. As though it were made from matchsticks the blast tore a gaping hole in the center of the creature and with a final grunt of pain the monster fell to the ground before detonating in a violent explosion.

_I'd better get back to the delegates._ He thought as he prepared to maneuver the Wing Zero back towards the warehouse district.

Sadly it was at this time that things changed course in more ways than one.

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_**Ethan's Costume Shop, Same Time**_

"Now, tell me how to break the spell." Giles commanded icily after delivering a solid kick to Ethan Rayne's ribs.

"Janus! Break the statue!" Ethan forced out as the act of speaking was only making his cracked ribs hurt even more.

Without wasting any time the Watcher walked over to where the bust of Janus with the glowing jade eyes rested and picked it up before sending it crashing down to the floor. Like piece of glass it shattered as it hit the floor and as a perfect ripple the focused energy shot outwards with the intention of undoing all the alterations it had made to those affected by the spell. However there were greater forces than Janus at work this night and they too would have their say in how it came to an end.

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_**Realm of the Powers That Be, Same Time**_

"Now my friends! Use your power to ensure that Harris does not revert back to his former self!" ordered the Chairwoman as a green glow began to surround her as she put her vast power to use.

As one they acted and replaced Janus' power with their own in order to ensure that the fictional character Heero Yuy remained in Sunnydale thus keeping Harris locked within his own body. The timing had to be perfectly in synch with the wave of energy released by the destroyed bust of Janus and could only last while the wave remained at a potent enough level to mask their own powers. They all knew that if their timing was off by even a fraction of a second the Creator would detect their hand in matters ruining what they were attempting to do. Fortunately millennia of experience aided them well and by the time the ripple began to die off they had infused both the Gundam and Harris with enough energy to maintain the transformation for at least an hour before it broke down. That would be more than sufficient to convince the Creator why Harris had to be removed from the mortal realm and from their path for good.

As expected they had planned, executed and accomplished their plan perfectly.

After all they were the Powers That Be.

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_**Atop a Water Tower, Sunnydale, Ten Seconds Later**_

"Well I think we've let them have their little bit of fun. I'd stick around and watch you teach those fools a lesson, but I think its best to get Xander where he needs to be," stated the man in red and black as he looked at the towering humanoid machine

He/She looked at her cousin and nodded in agreement that it would be best to remove Alexander from this reality before he/she confronted her ambitions subordinates. However he/she conveyed to him the seriousness of the task he was about to undertake and how he/she expected the young Harris lad to be returned in the agreed upon state. It would be difficult enough to put together a replacement council to take over the Powers' responsibilities while he/she dealt with his/her insubordinate underlings. The only thing that would make it worth it would be the advantage Xander would give the side of light upon his return when the time came to handle threats not of the Earth but of outer space. The champions in Colorado were satisfactory but from what he/she could foresee their rate of development technology-wise would put them short of the mark by the time the Ori came. Infusion of mobile suit technology and other machines from the reality his/her cousin had told him/her about would even the playing field nicely. He/She didn't want him to get carried away with his little bouts of amusement and ruin everything.

"Don't worry, my dear cousin! I promise that by the time I return your precious Alexander to you he will be more than up to the tasks you set for him." His/Her cousin declared with actual sincerity much to his/her surprise, "Why, if all my plans work out as I hope they do, I may even return with a little extra help for you."

While he/she didn't like the sound of that, he/she reluctantly gave his/her cousin permission to leave and, with a snap of his fingers, both he and his charges vanished in a flash of light.

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_**Cosmic Era Universe, Aprilius One, Lounge of the Amalfi Home, Noon**_

"That was wonderful, Heero! You really sound wonderful with Nicol when you play." Romina Amalfi said as the duet between her son and his friend came to an end.

"Thanks, Mrs. Amalfi. It took me a while to get it to sound just right, but I think I've pretty much mastered that piece now." Heero said as he began to put his flute back in its case, "I'd better get going though. They need me to look over and set up the equipment down in the theater district before tonight's show."

"Are you sure you can't stay for just one more song?" Nicol asked with disappointment, since it was clear he had enjoyed the duet, "I managed to finish the first half of my composition and I want to see how it sounds."

"I wish I could, Nicol, but tonight's the big debut and if something goes wrong, it'll be my butt in a sling when it's all over." He replied conveying that he really did want to stay but that he had other obligations.

"Are you sure it's not because it's Meer's first play in a leading role?" Nicol asked with a bit of mischief in his eyes.

"It's not because of that at all!" He protested but it was obvious from the look on both Mrs. Amalfi and Nicol's face that they didn't believe his words for a moment.

"Well, in that case, I suppose you can go for now. Just make sure to pick up a bouquet of flowers to give her after the show." Mrs. Amalfi said with a bit of mischief in her eyes as well, "After all, a girlfriend expects those sorts of things especially on important days like this."

"You're all hopeless!" He said with mock anger even though there was a rueful grin on his face, "See you later, Nicol! I'll try to come by for one more duet before you get sent back out to the front lines."

With that he walked out of the Amalfi home with flute case in hand and jacket zipped up to the top. It was only once he exited visual range of the Amalfi home that he allowed his true self to come to the surface rather than the Heero Yuy personae he, Xander Harris, had crafted for himself. It had only been eight months since he arrived in this reality but already PLANT was beginning to feel like home to him even though he knew it wasn't. His home was another reality away and despite his efforts to come up with a way to go back to where he belonged, there were two major obstacles standing in his way. The first was the fact that despite the advances that the Coordinators possessed some of the most advanced technology in this dimensions Sector zero zero one, it didn't come close to what he needed. They hadn't even developed the technology to leave their own solar system and as long as the conflict with the Naturals on Earth continued, it was unlikely they would any time soon. The other obstacle was the fact that his Gundam, the Federation version of Wing Zero, was operating at twenty percent of its maximum power output and, at best, could be raised to one quarter of its full power if he left it to charge long enough. That was because of the fact that the majority of the power it had been using during the wackiness of Halloween had come from the spell itself.

_Now that I'm no longer in my home dimension and therefore beyond Janus' reach, I lack the fuel necessary to bring Wing Zero's more advanced systems online._ He thought to himself as he strolled down the busy city street towards the theater district, _The deflector shield, the cloaking system and the warp drive would consume too much energy too quickly if I tried to use power from the secondary power supplies. As it stands, even fully charged the secondary power systems can only power the propulsion systems, the motor control systems and the weapons for about forty-five minutes before they're completely drained. In short, the Wing Zero isn't much better off than the ZAFT mobile suits in terms of combat time._

It had been one of the first things he had tried to come up with once he was satisfied that his false identity had been accepted by the PLANT government. He had spent almost every free moment he could get between his jobs and sleeping trying to concoct an alternative fuel for the Gundam that would bring it up to full power. Unfortunately, dilithium crystals and deuterium were still unknown to the humans of this world as well as the potential energy that could be released from a matter/anti-matter reaction. That, of course, wasn't stopping from continuing his search to this day but it had been months since he had started looking and he had nothing to show for his efforts. If things continued down this road, he might have to reconsider getting some outside help but he really hoped it didn't come to that. While he trusted the Amalfi family and Meer Cambell as friends, he wasn't sure how they'd react if he let them in on the existence of the Wing Zero. While the bond of friendship was strong, he worried that it might not be strong enough to stand up against things such as duty and loyalty to PLANT. If they decided that his Gundam was something that needed to be brought to the attention of the government and the military, he'd have no choice but to initiate Wing Zero's self-destruct program.

_If they choose to reveal Wing Zero to others, you should just kill them._ Came a thought from the remnants of Heero Yuy that still resided in his mind, _Destroying the Gundam should only be considered a last resort option. _

He pushed that part of himself away, rejecting its suggested solution, since he would never consider killing the friends he'd made in PLANT unless his own life was at stake. Nevertheless, it was definitely a risk that if he revealed the existence of the Wing Zero to anyone else there was a good chance that ZAFT would catch wind of it and attempt to capture it. After all, while there were some mobile suits that were massed produced by ZAFT, he had heard from Nicol that recently his squad had come into possession of mobile suits with capabilities far beyond the average Ginn or Goohn unit. The pilot wasn't able to reveal more than that due to the secrecy of the matter but it was enough to tell him how valuable Wing Zero would be to them. Even with its problem of fuel it was made up of twenty-fourth century Federation technology and that made it centuries ahead of anything anyone else had. To the military brass and those in the government it would be like the proverbial Holy Grail of mobile suits. They wouldn't hesitate to take it from him once they discovered its existence.

Returning his focus to the area around him, he was thankful to see that even with his head in the clouds he'd been able to navigate his way to the theatre district without any difficulty. Heading along his usual route for getting to the Cherry Blossom theatre he spotted a flower vendor selling his wares off to the side and apparently doing well. It was then that he remember Mrs. Amalfi's suggestion and while he still didn't like how she'd toyed with his affections for Meer he had to admit she was right about the flowers. Tonight was Meer's big night and he knew one way or another she'd deserve a bouquet of flowers for her performance tonight even if the acting critics crucified her the next day. Walking over he checked his pockets to see if he'd have enough money for a decent sized bouquet and still have enough money for a snack later after his work was done. Between his job assisting Amalfi family's gardener and his back stage work at the theatre he barely had enough money to pay for his apartment so he couldn't afford to indulge himself in extra purchases too often. Add to that the fact that he poured what funds he could into the 'restore the Wing Zero' fund and he was pretty much broke most of the time. Still his years of squeezing every ounce of fun he could out of the money he was able to 'borrow' safely from his parents back in Sunnydale served him well. Another month or so and he'd be able to afford to take Meer out on a real fancy date and not have to worry about skimping on anything.

"I'd like a dozen roses please." He said after examining what the vendor had to offer and making his choice.

"An excellent selection, young man. I'm sure your lady friend will appreciate them." Said a voice he'd been expecting to hear soon but at the same time hoped that he'd never have to encounter the owner of the voice.

With a sigh he looked up and saw a man that looked to be in his forties with black hair, blue eyes and a smile on his face that practically screamed 'trickster'. From facial features to body type it was exactly the way it had been portray in the TV shows and while the being in front of him might not be wearing a red and black Starfleet uniform it was definitely him. With a sigh, he decided not to go with his usual response to people with the vendor's personality type and just find out what the man wanted. Anything else would just provoke the jackass into doing something bigger, better and definitely more troublesome later.

"What do you want, Q?" Xander asked trying to keep any potentially offending emotion out of his voice just in case.

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	23. Legends Remade and Reborn

"Legends Remade and Reborn" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryley[underscorebreen[athotmail[dotcom

Disclaimer: The various characters, locations and plots are not owned by me but rather their creators as well as associated companies. I am making no profit off of them whatsoever. I am writing this for my own personal enjoyment as well as the enjoyment of anyone who decides to read it. Therefore keep your lawyers on their leashes because any sort of lawsuit at the moment would be a waste of time since anything you gain would be ridiculously less than what your lawyers would charge you for their services.

Note: This has been a drabble/short idea of mine for some time. It all came about when I wondered what would it be like to have four or five of the best gun wielding soldier type characters on the same team. Then it evolved to include a certain amoral Colonel who might be looking for a leg up and would be open to the idea of a certain chaos mage. Finally it landed where it is now. I know that there will be certain missed facts or lacking info since I only have movie info for some of them with the rest being from so please keep that in mind when the urge to flame me gets difficult to handle.

Now on with the show….

_Legends Remade and Reborn_

_**A Top Secret Prison Complex for 'Unique' Criminals, Alaska**_

_**Four Months After 'A New Man'**_

_Thank you, Jack! Thank you __**very**__ much!_ Colonel Maybourne thought with a barely contained flame of fury as he looked at his schedule for the day as the new C.O of the 'Purgatory Max' prison facility.

It had only been a month since his off world R&D facility was shut down, its personnel captured and all the technology acquired returned to its original owners. Needless to say his superiors in the N.I.D were less than happy about that and probably would have court marshaled him and imprisoned him if he hadn't thought on his feet and placed most of the blame for the fiasco on the heads of others. The surveillance team that he'd had watching O'Neill to confirm his 'dissatisfaction' with the progress that the SGC had been making acquiring off world defense technology and the personnel at the off world base took the majority of it. It was his claim that he had only acted based on the information they provided him with and, as such, it was their fault that the project had been exposed. Fortunately for him they had accepted that and withdrew the charges that would have ended up putting him in prison for the rest of his life or on death row. Unfortunately, it **had** resulted in him getting transferred to what was most definitely one of the most unpopular postings possible. He was now the man in charge of the Purgatory Max prison facility, where the military and U.S government kept its 'special' prisoners. That, of course, meant all of them possessed knowledge or abilities that had been deemed a threat to the country. That meant anything from rogue scientific experiments like the 'Hyde' Project to some of the more troublesome ones, like magic users.

While it had been a bit of a shock when he'd learned that the supernatural, arcane and demonic were real, he'd taken it all in stride. Some of the prisoners were warlocks, witches and wizards who, for one reason or another, had been imprisoned here until it was determined that the 'sentence' had been fulfilled. Personally, he figured that at least a third of them were just here until they decided to give his bosses whatever it was the top brass wanted. After all, enough of them weren't human enough to be covered by the bill of rights or any rights legislation he was aware of. Not that that would have prevent his superiors from holding someone they wanted to keep a firm grip on, but it meant less paperwork juggling for them if there was an actual valid reason for holding the being.

All in all, Purgatory Max held about two hundred and thirty inmates at any one time, with prisoners coming and going once every week or so. He had arrived yesterday and now it was expected as part of his job to visit every division, sector and department both for introductions and also to get up to date on everything. While he had reviewed the files he'd been sent a week ago, they were just the monthly reviews and that meant he had at least three weeks of data to catch up on. Looking at his schedule, he saw that he had a meeting with the commander of the prison guards first and then he was due over in the 'Coven' wing, as most people called it, to review the current occupants. It was in that wing that the human magic users and a few of the more manageable demonic magic users were imprisoned until the people in charge decided what to do with them. While the higher ups were wary of magic, they could not refute the possibilities it offered and what could potentially be gained by using it. They knew, just as he did, that Wolfram and Hart used it regularly to get their clients acquitted of everything from a speeding ticket to mass murders so brutal it even turned his stomach. While it had been put up for discussion, it had been decided in the end that they would avoid making any deals or signing any contracts with that law firm on the grounds that there might be fine print even they couldn't see on something they signed. Instead, it was decided that they'd develop their own little branch of magic users and people with paranormal abilities since they'd be the ones in control. At the moment, though, they were still looking for leverage and bribery material that would gain them acceptable control over the more promising inmates.

Getting out of his seat, he decided it was better just to get the whole thing over with rather than drag things out any longer. It took ten minutes to reach the office of Special Agent Maury Dammers and when he saw the man, he knew he'd have to put in a recommendation for the guy to undergo psych evaluation sooner rather than later. As he recalled when he read the man's profile, he was the younger brother of a Special Agent Milton Dammers, who had been assigned to infiltrate cults and supernatural communities. Needless to say everyone who met the elder Dammers immediately pegged him as being 'odd', with the occasional addition of 'a few cans short of a six pack'. From what he could see of Maury, he was well on his way to becoming like that as well and he had to be certain that he'd know when it was time to call the men in white coats. After the meeting, he then went to the Coven wing to take a look at things and see if any of the inmates were willing to agree to the terms of their release or needed to be placed under heavier restrictions.

An hour later, he had just about finished his perusal of the wing, after making several recommendations that inmate F. Krueger received an increased dosage of hypnocil in order to ensure the man's connection to the dream world be blocked.

_Heaven help us all if he hooks up with __**them**__ again!_ Harry thought as he recalled what the file said about Krueger's exploits.

The next inmate though was one that had only been there for four months but was considered just as dangerous as Krueger in that he was quite resourceful. There had been no less than five attempts by the man to escape since arriving, resulting in everything going to the cell being thoroughly examined and compared to ingredients in certain spell books. It wasn't perfect, since they didn't have an experienced magic user on hand who understood the books well enough to catch everything, but it seemed to be sufficient for the time being. The man had been captured and imprisoned after an incident in Sunnydale by members of a black project called 'The Initiative' that was tasked with researching demons while looking for possible military applications. From what he'd heard through the intelligence grapevine, though, the project had blown up in the overseeing committee's faces when their prized project went rogue and almost pulled of a coup d'etat two months ago. Virtually all of the project's research personnel were dead and at least a third of the military people assigned there were no longer capable of participating in field ops anymore. However, even with the group that caught him being gone, the initial charges against Rayne and the other charges that were added later once agents backtracked the man's movements stuck. At the moment, the top brass were considering using him only for what contacts the man might have in the occult community and perhaps as a distraction supplier. He had been given the deal two months ago but, thus far, had refused to do anything unless he was granted a complete presidential pardon and allowed to leave the country unmolested. Naturally the higher ups were refusing to accept those demands and had decided to let the man cool his heels for a few months in this prison in the hopes it would make him more reasonable.

_Time to see if two months in this freezer box of a prison has changed the man's mind_. Harry thought as he turned the corner and looked at the unbreakable transparent cage Rayne had been put into. The design made it a little better than most prison cells the public was aware of but at the same time it was five times more secure since various escape artists had tried to break out of it with over eighty percent of them failing. Considering the fact that these people were the cream of the crop in their field, it was a safe bet that no one outside of the field would be able to do better than they did in escaping. From the looks of things, Mr. Rayne was content to just sit back and wait but it was anyone's guess what he was waiting for. It took only a few steps of his for the man to notice that there was someone coming down towards his cell and, when their eyes met, Rayne put a smile on that instantly told the new C.O of the prison not to trust the man.

"You must be the new commander of the base. Ethan Rayne, at your service!" Rayne said with a mocking salute from his place on the bed.

_He knew I was coming. I'll have to remember to impress upon Dammers to make sure his men know to follow the 'do not speak around the prisoners' rule. _He thought with slight annoyance that an inmate knew even a little bit of what went on outside his cell.

"My name is Colonel Maybourne, Mr. Rayne, and you're right about me being the new commander of the base. I was making the rounds to all the various departments and decided to stop by to see if you've reconsidered your position on the N.I.D's offer." He said, putting from friendliness into his voice but keeping it mostly professional.

"Ah yes! The old 'work for us, make things for us, but never think about leaving us' deal your predecessor put on the table two months after I arrived in this **charming** facility," Ethan said with contempt for the deal that he'd been offered. "No doubt their lack of response to my counter offer was meant to make me remember who held the keys to my cell in the hopes that I'd agree to their terms. Really! Over a hundred years of experience and the military still resorts to such blunt methods!"

"Well, you know the old saying, 'if it works, why change it?'" Harry said, rattling off the phrase without actually believing a word of it.

"Well I'm afraid that if you want anything out of me, you and your superiors will have think outside the box. While I don't mind working for others on occasion, I am a man who values his freedom." Ethan said as he made a show of only having passing interest in the conversation.

A second later, though, a thought seemed to strike Rayne because a smug smile blossomed on the man's face from ear to ear.

"Perhaps, though, I am making a deal with the wrong people. Maybe I should be trying to make a deal with the person with the keys to my cell rather than the people who give him his orders." Ethan Rayne said, sounding more and more sure of himself with every word. "After all, you must have done something rather damaging to get this assignment. Perhaps you'd like a chance to get in good with your bosses again."

"What makes you think I didn't request this assignment?" He asked, keeping his poker face in place while inside he was scrambling to figure out how Rayne was hitting the mark so often.

"Oh **please!** No sane military man would **request** to be assigned to a madhouse like this!" Ethan replied with some venom at the idea that such a transparent façade would fool him, "This is where they send soldiers to either waste away and die or suffer for some grievous mistake they made! I imagine you made quite a mistake indeed since the last commander of this facility was a rank below you."

The conversation was starting to deeply bother him, not only because of how often Rayne was guessing correctly about the circumstances of his reassignment to Purgatory Max but also on the correct method for escaping. Intellectually it would be smarter to try and cut a deal with the prison staff rather than the people giving orders to the staff hundreds of miles away. After all, even if they had planted a spy in the complex to keep an eye on things, by the time that word got out that the C.O had let a prisoner loose, it'd already be too late to do anything about it. Still, he wasn't about to just walk up to the door and let Rayne out.

Not without hearing what the man had to offer first.

It wasn't that he was a traitor to his country or his people, but rather that he agreed with the chaos mage that Purgatory max was where the brass sent the expendables. He knew that it was only a matter of time before they either decided to make his reassignment permanent or arranged an 'accident' for him. The idea that there might be some way to regain his former standing with the higher ups at the N.I.D was appealing, if only because he had no wish for his final days to be made up of running this hellhole.

"Let's assume for the moment that I am interested. What could you possibly offer that would be enough to get me out of this place and back into the good graces of my superiors?" Harry asked, trying to sound as hypothetical and non-committal as possible.

"What all militaries want: the ultimate soldier. One who is not only perfect physically but also has a mind that finds ways to make the impossible possible." Rayne replied like a man giving a presentation before a board of directors with the utmost confidence of getting a promotion out of it, "Did they tell you about a little bit of fun I had two years or so ago in Sunnydale?"

"Yes. You cast a spell that caused people to gain the memories, abilities and personality of whoever or whatever they were dressed up as to the point that they really believed they were who they were dressed up as." He replied recalling the details of that little escapade but not particularly impressed, "However that was all just fake. According to the information in the file, the spell is reliant on the bust of Janus remaining intact and is flawed in that the hosts will only accept the 'reality' that they know. Not exactly something that could be used effectively."

"What if I told you that the spell I cast that night was incomplete, that if I had had one final item I could have made most of the changes permanent, and that that was the only reason those changed returned to normal after the bust was broken?" Rayne asked, looking more smug than ever, "The spell was originally created by Janus worshippers in order to cause as much chaos for their Lord as possible by introducing as many foreign and dangerous elements into the world as possible. Naturally, those that desire order were quick to obliterate the Janus worshippers as quickly as possible and, within two and a half centuries, believed they had succeeded. However a handful of the more cowardly worshippers forsook their loyalty to Janus in favor of being allowed to live."

"One of them, though, didn't throw away all of his books and artifacts, but rather hid them away so that one day the Children of Janus could rise again. I happened to locate this cache of goods about a year before I went to Sunnydale to cast the Janus spell you know about. In fact, it was the finding of this cache and the locating of an old friend of mine that prompted me to cast the spell in the first place," Rayne said as he continued to explain the truth behind the event in question. "However one crucial ingredient required for the spell was beyond my reach as it was in the possession of one of the most wealthy men in all the world. The fool! He thinks of it as nothing more than a pretty bauble and has it sitting on display in his mansion. He has no idea of its true power."

"If you didn't have the final ingredient, then why did the spell work at all?" Harry asked, showing a bit more interest in what was being said.

"I used a substitute for the final ingredient. Generally it is not recommended for a person to use substitute ingredients for a spell of this magnitude, since the side-effects can be most unpleasant for all concerned," Ethan replied, lying back onto his bed with his eyes looking up at the ceiling. "Fortunately, Janus was not offended at the substitution and lent his power to the spell. However, if you were to acquire this final component for me as well as everything else required by the spell, I could have your super soldier ready to go inside of a week."

"An interesting offer but most fictional characters that might fit the bill are either mentally deranged or too 'honorable' to perform most of the tasks my superiors would require them to do," Harry said, pointing out a flaw in the plan to see if Rayne really did have all the bases covered.

"True, but if you got a few young 'volunteers', people whose minds were still flexible enough to groom them into what you wanted them to be, then they should be easy enough to control or manipulate," Ethan said, dismissing the flaw as a minor one. "After all, as I said, it will only be the memories, skills and perhaps some personality traits that will remain once the spell is lifted. Normally the spell would not be lifted and the hosts would forever remain under the thumb of the fictional entity in the driver's seat. However, with a little tweaking of the spell, I can make it so that all that would remain would be the knowledge, skills and personality traces of the costume. If you put the right spin on the situation with your volunteers, then they would follow orders willingly and by the time they figured out the truth, they will have strayed too far from the straight and narrow to go back."

"An intriguing idea, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk my life on some half baked plan of yours to produce the perfect super soldier," he said, wanting to see if there was anything else Rayne could offer before he agreed to the deal.

"Then what if you could be the point man ushering in a level of technology far beyond anything currently available whether it be on the public, private or black market? For, you see, you, just like everyone else who hasn't seen the spell in its entirety, do not know just how thorough the changes are with the fully cast spell," Rayne said without any anxiety or loss of confidence. "Are you familiar with the concept of alternate realities, Colonel Maybourne? Other Earths where things are similar in some ways but drastically different in others?"

"I'm familiar with the concept," he replied, recalling a few files where SG1 got involved with alternate realities.

"Well **that,** my good friend, is where the unique abilities, technologies and memories come from. They are not artificial in the least." Rayne stated like he was delivering the world's greatest punchline, "The truth of the matter is that when the spell is cast, Janus delves into the many alternate realities that exist out there and, for lack of a better word, scans subjects who best match the persons or things the costumes worn represent. In other words, if someone went dressed as Mr. Spock from Star Trek, Janus would seek out the best match based on the version of uniform worn and the wearers own desires. Once found, the spell would literally begin to rearrange the host's body and mind in the blink of an eye to match what was scanned. Do you see what I'm saying?"

"You mean?!" He asked with surprise as his quick mind easily followed the train of logic that Rayne had laid out.

"Yes, my good man! Should you agree to this idea, you could literally have a working version of devices and beings that, up until now, have only existed in fiction." Rayne said with his smile getting even wider if that was at all possible, "Think about it. You want cybernetic limbs that work better than the clunky models of today? This spell can get you a limb that looks and moves identical to flesh and blood ones. You want a new untraceable communications device? Why, just dress one of the hosts up as a fictional character that either possesses one or knows how to make one. The possibilities are truly endless."

The very idea that advanced technology could be obtained without ever leaving the planet completely blew him away and caused his mind to race in order to comprehend all the possibilities. If this worked out the way that that Rayne implied, then he could easily turn the SGC into the laughing stock of the United States by outdoing them completely in terms of acquiring sophisticated technology for Earth defense. Hell! If he played his cards right, he could easily become the second most powerful man in America next to the President himself. With such possibilities in mind, Harry almost let his expressionless face slip and let Rayne know that he'd hooked his prey, but he believed that he caught himself in time. Before accepting this offer, he would need absolute proof that things would work out as Ethan Rayne implied and that meant a trial run comprised of expendables as well as the calling in of most of the favors he had left.

"Your offer intrigues me, Mr. Rayne. However you do realize that I'll need to see the spell performed at least once and my own people examine the results before I can agree to your release terms," he said, making it clear with his voice that release would depend heavily on the goods being delivered as promised.

"Of course, of course! However, if you don't mind, I'd like to make two suggestions as to who two of the test subjects should be," Rayne said with a slightly vengeful tone of voice. "You see, an associate of an old friend of mine was instrumental in bringing about my capture and, thus, my imprisonment in this lovely building. I would like to repay her for her fine gift."

"I'll see what can be arranged." Maybourne said and then immediately left the area to contemplate where he would take things next.

He knew a few good men who owed him favors. He could get them to acquire the final ingredient to the spell that Rayne mentioned. They could also be used to acquire the two 'volunteers' that Rayne wanted since he'd be using them to acquire two test subjects himself. He knew he'd probably get scolded later for allowing his personal feelings to get in the way of his duty but he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some measure of personal revenge against O'Neill and his band of troublemakers.

He knew exactly who the two 'volunteers' from Colorado Springs should be.

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_**Four Days Later, A Street in the Residential Area of Sunnydale, Evening**_

"So did you get a post card from Buffy yet?" Xander asked as he and his bestest bud Willow walked down the sidewalk heading for home.

"No but that's not surprising since she and her mom are trying to do the super mother-daughter thing in L.A." Willow replied, looking up at her friend, "Apparently the whole mess with the Initiative had Mrs. Summers a little spooked and this was Buffy's way of trying to get her mind off of things."

"Poor Buffy! We're definitely going to have to do something extra fun for her when she gets back," he said like he had just been told that Buffy had been forced to go to Summer School.

"What's so bad about wanting to spend time with her mom?" Willow asked apparently not completely comprehending the implications of such a bonding moment.

"Think Willow. Joyce has just had to endure yet another year of her daughter risking her life fighting demons that ended with her fighting a military demonoid cyborg," he explained, hoping that his friend's IQ had not taken a nosedive. "What do you think her motherly instincts are going to be screaming at her to do?"

It took a minute or two of careful contemplation but eventually a look of worry appeared on the redhead's face along with sympathy. This told him that she had finally connected the dots.

"Poor Buffy!" Willow said mirroring what he had said a few moments ago, "All that shopping, the trip to the beauty salons and probably a few art shows!"

"Yep! I like Mrs. S as much as the next guy but when she goes into overbearing mothering mode it's time to jump ship or get smothered by her." He said with mock seriousness to show he didn't really have any bad feelings towards the den mother of the Scooby gang.

He was about to say something more when something sharp bit into the back of his neck, like one of those pesky needles that doctors and nurses use. Reaching up, he felt around the general area and when he felt a solid object, he pulled it out before bringing it around to get a better look at it. However, just as his mind began to match the name 'tranq dart' to the object in his hand, darkness came down on him like anvil the size of the Empire State building. Only peripherally was he aware in those last moments of consciousness of Willow's frightened yelling being cut off and a small vibration going through the ground beneath him.

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_**Colorado Springs, The Front Steps of the Frasier Home, Morning, One Day Later**_

"Now I'm going to be busy in the lab for most of the day, so you're going to be on your own," Dr. Janet Frasier said as she locked the front door to the home in preparation to take her adopted daughter with her to the SGC to visit Sam and the others. "Sam and Jack said that they'd do their best to free up some time for you but if the alarms start going, I want you to go to General Hammond's office immediately so I'll know where you are. Understand?"

"Yes Mom!" Cassie replied, not liking one bit that she was being treated like a five year old.

"I'm just worried, Cassie. If there's one thing I've learned working at Cheyenne Mountain, it's that anything can and usually does happen there sooner or later." Dr. Frasier said in an effort to placate her adopted daughter, "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know Mom but if you think about it, the only way for me to be completely safe if something happens at the SGC is to teleport me ten miles away the second it happens," she said, trying to reassure her surrogate mother that she knew the drill. "Seeing as how they don't have teleporters there, I doubt there's a way to be completely safe in the mountain."

Seeing a look in her adoptive mother's eyes that said 'maybe my daughter should not come', the brunette quickly came up with something to obliterate that idea.

"Besides, with Jack, Sam Daniel and Teal'c around, plus General Hammond in command, I'm sure that anything bad that comes through the gate is going to wish they'd never heard of Earth." She said sounding like she had all the confidence in the world in SG1 and the C.O of the SGC.

"You're right. Now let's get going before—" was as far as Janet Frasier got before a white dart seemed to materialize at her neck.

Like a puppet whose strings had been cut, the chief medical officer of the SGC dropped to the ground unconscious. Cassie tried to go to her side but she got no more than two steps before a sharp pain in the back of her neck caused her body to betray her and her mind to take her to la-la land as Jack would call it.

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_**Air Force Academy, Main Gym, One Day Later**_

_This had better be __**damn**__ important! That's all I have to say about this! _Thought Cadet Jennifer Hailey as she entered the main gym that she'd been summoned to.

The cause of her ire wasn't so much the location she'd been asked to meet Lt. Johnson at, but rather what it had interrupted in her quarters. Contrary to what most of the base might think, it wasn't a make out session with one of her fellow male cadets who she'd snuck into her quarters or anything but rather a project she'd been working like mad on. Ever since she'd caught a glimpse of what would be waiting for her once she graduated from the academy, she'd devoted almost all her free time to getting the best grades ever on everything. Most of the people that could be called her friends in her class told her she needed to relax and try and enjoy her teenage years, but she'd more or less told them that she was enjoying what she was doing. Of course they just rolled their eyes and went to the cadet lounge to hang out and watch TV but, then again, they didn't know what she knew. It was possible to travel to other planets! Wormholes were being created almost daily in Cheyenne Mountain! Alien life **did** exist! The fact that she'd been told that if she managed to make it through the academy with flying colors she'd earn a spot at the SGC was all the incentive she needed to do her best.

_Thanks to this, though, I'm going to have to pull an all nighter if I want to present this to the science class on time!_ She thought as she looked around the gym for Lt. Johnson so she could get whatever he summoned her here for out of the way.

What immediately made her wary was the fact that the gym was completely empty, not a single person anywhere, which was odd considering the number of cadets at the academy. Even if there wasn't a class scheduled for this time, there were usually a few of the guys playing a game of basketball. Not that she spent any of her free time watching their sweating, toned bodies run up and down the court. She was much too intelligent for something as wasteful as that. She just happened to need a place to sit down a few minutes and the bleachers were the closest ones that would meet her needs. In any case, the sheer lack of people in the gym either meant that Lt. Johnson had just played a prank on her, one she would get him back for tenfold if that turned out to be the case, or she was early for some reason and the lieutenant would be along at any moment.

As she heard the door she had come through a minute ago open up, she decided that her latter theory was the correct one and turned to find out why she'd been summoned here. However she only got about two thirds of the way through her 180 degree turn before something sharp bit into her neck and her body suddenly felt like it had gained two hundred pounds. So potent was the pull into darkness that she couldn't even find the strength to reach up and find out what had hit her in the neck.

The last thing she heard before boarding the boat to dreamland was Lt. Johnson saying, "Nothing personal, Cadet. It's just this means a seriously plush assignment for me once the Colonel gets ahold of you."

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_**One Week Later, Purgatory Max Prison, Noon (local time)**_

"You're late, Major Wilson." Maybourne said as he watched the last team carrying both Cassandra Frasier and Cadet Hailey in from the helicopter outside.

"Sorry, sir. Those people at the SGC picked up our trail earlier than expected and we needed to make sure we lost them before coming here." Major Wilson explained as he ran alongside his team as they carried the two young women to the designated room, "Fortunately I believe we lost them somewhere near southern Alberta so you needn't worry about them crashing this little 'gathering' of yours anytime soon."

"You'd better hope so, Major, or you can forget about getting the pictures **and** the negatives of you and that underage young woman in Saudi Arabia," Harry warned, making sure that the man knew what leverage was being used against him and the prize for bringing the 'volunteers' here safely.

From there they made their way to what had once been a recreation area for some of the more compliant prisoners before an incident with one H.Lector prompted those in power to transfer the cannibal to another location. Using a third of the favors he'd still been owed by various members of the military and intelligence community, Harry'd had it retrofitted to meet with Rayne's specifications for the spell. Now it looked like a cross between an Anime cartoon and a mad scientists laboratory with the oddest piece being a futuristic looking bed that looked like it could be used for either surgery or mechanical maintenance. Currently occupying the bed was a young woman in her late teens wearing a skintight combat suit and vest colored various shades of grey with everything looking fully realistic. Her hair had been dyed grape purple, it had been fiery red the last time he had seen her before Ms. Myers had taken her away to get changed, and he was sure that if he peeled back her eyelids he would see reddish eyes. Heavy restraints were placed at all the crucial points and each was made to hold up to anything short of Superman himself, so he was confident that once the procedure was done she'd stay put.

To the right of the med/mech bed was a young man who was thankfully restrained by a far more normal looking metal table but with heavy leather straps in all the right places just to be on the safe side. Dressed in a steel gray body suit with buckles, straps, knee pads, elbow pads, equipment compartments and a green headband he looked like any number of other Special Forces soldiers he'd seen in his career. However, if he was to believe the brief summary of the character, the young man was dressed up to be then this teenager would soon be the most elite soldier of their time, a soldier who made the impossible possible on a regular basis. He could just imagine the progress that could be made against the Goa'uld with someone like this on the side of the U.S.A.

"Ms. Kyle? Take our two new arrivals to the changing room and dress them in their assigned clothes," he said to the blonde 'associate' of his that would be assisting in the data gathering once the spell was complete. "I want them ready for the 'process' in twenty minutes."

"Of course, Colonel." Ms. Kyle replied as she directed the soldiers of Major Wilson where to take the two young women.

With that done, there were only a few more things that he'd need to take care of before he could safely proceed with matters. Moving over to where he saw Rayne going through a mock practice of the spell he caught the eye of the personnel present and gestured for them to gather around Ethan's location.

"Alright people! Here is how things are going to go down and what your responsibilities are going to be." He said making sure he was speaking loud enough for everyone to hear him, "Major Wilson? You and your men will be providing additional security along with Dammers and his men. The majority of your men will be here to make sure that our 'volunteers' don't get a chance to act on any desire to leave that they might have. There must be **NO** permanent damage done to them no matter what. Dr. Beckett? Your team will be the ones to run the preliminary analysis and classification of the technology we're about to bring into existence. Just like Major Wilson, I do **NOT** want any permanent damage done to the 'volunteers'. They're literally one of a kind and my superiors will not like damaged goods. Does everybody understand?"

There were nods all around as everyone from the soldiers under Major Wilson to Beckett's people knew that this could be a major boost to their careers if they played their cards right. They also knew that this could wind up putting them in unmarked graves in the middle of nowhere if they screwed up, so none of them were going to do anything beyond the description he had just given.

"Good. Now, I have some work to do to prepare a brief for the brass should this pay off like we all hope it will," Harry said, putting his safety measure into place. "I will contact you via video conferencing on that monitor from here on out, since I doubt I will be able to find the time to actually walk down here every time. Work hard and all of you will reap the benefits of this project."

With that, he walked out of the room and began heading towards his office. Once there, he would wait for the preliminary results of the transformation before moving onto phase two of his plan. He wasn't all that comfortable with that part of the scenario but he knew that once Rayne's idea was proven that his superiors would want the number of people who knew about it kept to a minimum. That meant that once all the steps, ingredients and procedures for creating super soldiers was recorded in every conceivable way, all the loose ends would have to be cut.

_Such a shame, really, that most of them won't make it out of this place alive._ He thought as he recalled what he knew about the people he had just talked to, _But if everything works out like I hope it will, the project will likely become an even bigger secret then the SGC. Sadly, that will be a bit over their security clearance levels._

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_**Purgatory Max, Recreation Area Twenty-five Minutes Later**_

"Wakey, wakey, little ones," came an annoying British voice through the darkness of unconsciousness.

Then, of course, came a rather pungent smell that caused him to forcefully be returned to consciousness in seconds and definitely give him a reason to smack whoever had ruined his naptime. So, without hesitation, he tried to lash out with his foot only to find that it was being solidly restrained by something, since it did not move an inch. Once his eyesight came back fully, he could see that he was in some kind of hastily created lab of some kind with machines and chemicals everywhere. He tried to look down to see what was keeping him from kicking the geek in front of him but there was something wrapped around not only his forehead but also his throat. Deciding to deduce what he could through what he could do, he went for his sense of touch first and found that he was in distinctly different clothes than he remembered. It was tight and form fitting with what felt like straps used in the military to carry equipment wrapped around his limbs and torso. He could also feel a headband of some kind beneath the strap pressing against his forehead. It was also cold in the room, much too cold, and he didn't think it was because this room used to be a meat locker or something. It was far too uniform and natural for that. All in all, he had been changed into different clothes without his consent and relocated to someplace that was **NOT** California.

Sight was consulted next and, from that he was able to tell, that the men with the guns arrayed within his field of vision were either black ops or mercenaries. Most likely they had been the ones to ambush him and Willow in Sunnydale with those tranquilizer darts. While he didn't exactly see himself as special ops material, Xander did like to think fighting demons for four years on top of a Hellmouth would've allowed him a little bit of special awareness when it came to being followed or watched. Obviously while fighting demons and the supernatural might make you more aware than most humans, it still doesn't make you good enough to perceive that you're being followed by trained soldiers. There were also lab scientists around, such as the one that was now going to the left of him to wake someone else up, and since they didn't look like the weaklings that couldn't cut it in the major leagues of the scientific field, they must be top dollar eggheads. Put the highly trained soldiers and the elite brainiacs together and it was clear to him that either someone who was filthy rich or powerful arranged all of this. Mercs cost a lot of money, as did skilled scientists, and to be able to hire both at the same time means that either you had a lot of money or had quite a bit of power over the people involved. Neither were good things as far as he was concerned, since it was unlikely he'd be able to persuade any of them to let him go.

Hearing was the last one he'd use, since he figured he only had enough time to take stock of the sounds around him before the clichéd villain speech routine began. He could hear the familiar hum of electronic machinery, the hiss of open flames and the tapping of keys on a computer's keyboard. This confirmed to him that a lot of equipment was in the room along with other devices commonly found in a lab and that told him that the geeks would be working here for some time rather than just doing an overnight thing. Considering that he was tied down with at least one other also restrained, then it meant he and the other person were the test subjects.

_Just when I thought that mess with the Initiative was over with, some other idiot thinks he had dabble with stuff he doesn't understand._ Xander thought as he tried to piece what he had learned together even more than before, _But what exactly __**are**__ they trying to do?_

"So tell me…Xander, I believe…how is Ripper these days?" Came the same annoying British voice from earlier but this time his mind was awake enough to recognize it.

"Ethan Rayne!" Came a female voice that he knew in an instant belonged to his bestest friend Willow and, at that moment, it was confirmed that he hadn't been the only target of the mercs.

"Correct, young lady! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you picked up on the answer before the young man here did." Ethan said with complete disrespect to the founding male member of the Scooby gang, "He always did strike me as the expendable idiot of the group."

While it was his first instinct to growl at this, Xander chose to reign that idea in, since it would only amuse the chaos mage more. Better to try and fish for information than waste time yelling out promises of an ass kicking he couldn't deliver on just yet.

"I thought the G.I. Joes had locked you away for good. You mojo your way out of your cell or were they stupid enough to listen when you promised them the world?" He asked, hoping that the idiot would be arrogant enough to spill at least some of the truth.

"Oh, nothing so ridiculous as that! I am not stupid enough to promise them world domination and I seriously doubt my present employer would believe if I had told him I could give him the world," Ethan replied as thought it was idiotic for anyone to make such a promise. "I did, however, promise to help him gain what the Initiative failed to do with that little patchwork monstrosity Walsh created. A super soldier capable of doing on his own what an entire platoon could not accomplish. In this case, though, I'll be providing my employer with four such people."

_Four!?_ Xander thought with some surprise before remembering that Willow was there as well, _But then who are the other two?_

"Who the hell are you!?" Yelled a female voice to his left that definitely sounded like a teenager copping some serious attitude.

"Cadet Hailey, correct? As the young lady mentioned earlier, my name is Ethan Rayne and I am but a humble businessman selling his skills to the highest bidder." Rayne said sounding like he had the most honest profession in the entire world, "I always demand compensation for my services, but considering the unique nature of my abilities my benefactors don't mind."

"And what are those abilities?" Asked a third female voice who sounded more like your typical moody teenager.

"Magic, my dear, magic. I specialize in chaos magic, to be precise, and it can be quite useful when used just right." He replied as though telling someone his abilities centered on teaching.

"There's no such thing as magic! Quit trying to bullshit us!" Hailey yelled obviously pissed that someone would insult her intelligence with such an answer.

"Considering the tales I've heard of you, Ms. Hailey, I would've thought you'd have a more open mind." Rayne said before dismissing her outright, "Regardless of what you believe, you'll soon experience the truth for yourselves."

"What exactly are you planning, Rayne?" Xander asked, wanting more info on what exactly the chaos mage intended to do to create super soldiers.

"Oh, just a variation on what I did on that Halloween night oh so long ago. Only on a much larger scale," Rayne replied with some amusement as though there was some secret joke to it all. "In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you chose to thank me once it is all said and done."

"Don't bet on it! Besides, if you're just going to do that old Halloween spell then I think your employer is going to want his money back." Xander said, making it clear that he'd sooner kiss the devil's ass then thank the chaos mage, "After all, the last time you did it all it took to break the spell was breaking the Janus bust."

"Ah, but this time there'll be no bust to break and the spell will only end if I want it to end. Besides, I made sure that each of you are in restraints strong enough to hold even the fictional characters you're about to turn into." Ethan said with full confidence in his preparations, "Even your redheaded little friend won't be able to break free even with her soon to be increased strength."

"Just who are you planning on turning us into?" He asked, definitely not liking the confidence radiating off the chaos mage at the moment.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. After all, it would spoil the surprise and I'd hate to deprive you of that." Ethan said with an even bigger smug look, "Just relax and prepare yourself, young man. Things are going to get rather unpleasant in a few moments."

_Well, on a scale of one to then I'd definitely rate this situation as __**NOT**__ of the good._ He thought as he tried to figure out what exactly the Brit Bastard was going to do to them.

"Hey Willow! Can you see anything useful from your side?" He asked as quietly as he could without being impossible for his friend to hear him.

"No but I've got a bad feeling about all this." She replied in a tone that implied she was straining her eyes to find anything informative, "I'm not sure but this outfit they put me in is at least two sizes too big for me and maybe a bit more since its so skintight. I'm thinking maybe whatever's gonna happen is going to be a bit more than just messing with our heads this time around."

_Definitely __**NOT**__ of the good!_ He thought as he took what his friend had just informed him about.

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_**One Minute Later, Ethan Rayne's Point of View**_

"Well, I think it's about time to get the show on the road!" Ethan said as he moved over to where the ingredients of the spell were laid out, "Major Wilson? If you and your men will take up your positions around our volunteers please."

Not even bothering to turn and look to see if the black ops soldiers were obeying him, he began to put on the necessary vestments of a follower of Janus. While a bit odd looking to the everyman, it was necessary for any spell that would call on the god's power because otherwise you'd likely offended the two headed being.

Needless to say that is **not** a smart idea.

Once full adorned, he looked towards the centerpiece of the spell, the Eyes of Janus, the pieces that he'd been unable to acquire for the Halloween spell and thus had been forced to substitute with common emeralds. The Eyes of Janus, however, were said to be a gift from Janus himself and thus had a great deal more power to them than anything found on the Earth. It would be their power that would not only make the changes in Harris and the others more profound, but it would also make the alterations permanent. While he was certainly willing to do Colonel Maybourne a favor by creating four super soldiers for him, it was more because of the chaos he knew would come out of it than just to get his freedom back.

_Although that is a nice bonus though._ He thought as he picked up each of the four god-made emeralds and brought them over to the bust of Janus.

While it was true that he had told Harris that there would be no bust this time around, it was in fact crucial to the spell. All spells needed some kind of focus point in order to work properly and a bust of the god he was borrowing power from was perfect for his needs. Plus it would allow Janus a more direct way of drawing in the chaos that would be created by this spell. If there was one thing that Janus appreciated more than anything, it was chaos in the world and, if one of his followers contributed, then they would be rewarded. He figured if he introduced four highly skilled and potentially rebellious elements into the world, the chaos that would result from it would put him at the front of the line to receive Janus' blessings. That was why he'd chosen the four costumes he had rather than something more powerful or technologically advanced. Oh, he'd given the excuse that he thought it best that they take baby steps in acquiring technology from the fictitious worlds the spell could draw from but that was more or less a lie. Each and every one of the fictional characters the four were dressed up as were do-gooders that not only always did the right thing but also weren't afraid of using lethal force, if necessary. Maybe the blonde character was a bit closer to evil than the other three, but in her case it was more like a spot of good inside a sea of bad. After all, Nina might have a questionable occupation, but she did do the occasional good deed from time to time. Besides, putting nothing but heroes on the team would hardly create any chaos, so introducing a bit of darkness would spice things up a bit. All together he imagined that the Colonel would be able to reap a brief period of prestige but that would only last until Harris and the others gained a good grip on their new attributes. Once that happened, chaos would reign and Maybourne would probably be lucky to be able to flee the country before his superiors caught up with him.

_There are times when I just __**know**__ I made the right choice in pledging my loyalty to Janus!_ He thought with glee although he kept his face impartial for all to see.

Taking the four eye-shaped emeralds into the palm of his hand, Ethan stood in front of the bust and, in a sudden motion, clapped his other hand into the one holding the emeralds putting as much pressure as he could on the pretty baubles. He winced slightly when they pierced his skin and he could feel it when the blood began to flow, but that was to be expected. Like in many potent spells, blood acted both as the catalyst as well as the connection between the spell and the person casting the spell. Once he was satisfied that the blood was flowing sufficiently, he then placed the emeralds one at a time into the eye sockets of the bust.

"The world that denies thee, thou inhabit," he chanted as he first emerald into the first eye socket. "The peace that ignores thee, thou corrupt."

One by one he placed another emerald into a vacant socket.

"Chaos. I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son." He said as he used drops of his own blood to color his eyes after putting the last emerald in place.

He could feel the energy stirring in the air, the power gathering to bring to life four characters of fiction, and used his skills to direct both to where it needed to go. One by one the 'volunteers' were placed within whirlwinds of magic, isolating them from the outside world, safe within the center. Sadly it looked like only he and perhaps the young wicca Rosenberg had a clue as to what was beginning to gather in the room. Reminded of the promise he'd seen in her, he decided to speed things up a bit, since it wouldn't do if Ripper's little protégé did anything to mess things up.

"Janus, I invoke your spirit. Hear my plea. Seize this moment for your own reason. Come, appear and show to us that which is infinite power." He chanted as he brought the spell to the next level, "The mask transforms itself into flesh and blood. Your holy presence curdles the heart. Janus! Take them, change them and feed on their existence!"

With those words, a wind of terrible power burst into existence and would have sent many an object flying if he hadn't instructed the others in the room to take the appropriate steps to prevent such an occurrence. Once it reached its peak, the four subjects began to glow with a blinding green light and screamed the screams of people who were undergoing very painful changes faster than their bodies were used to. For the women it was adjustments in height, as well as their body mass index, and definitely in their chest sizes. Now, they likely wouldn't completely lose their original looks or appearances but rather the more dominant characteristics of the fictional characters will be added to what is already there. So, in a way, it was an arcane version of plastic surgery but on a much larger as well as detailed scale then what could be achieved through modern science. In the wicca's case, though, the changes would be a bit more extreme since the only a small piece of flesh would remain with the rest replaced by metal. These physical changes were the reason he insisted that the costumes be larger than what most would consider appropriate for the 'volunteers'. He had known from the beginning that they'd need some growing room, otherwise the clothes would rip potentially to the point where the women would wind up giving the men of the room something of a show.

_Not that I'd be adverse to such a display of feminine beauty, but some of the gadgets in the clothes and on top of them might get damaged._ He thought as he brought a hand up to block some of the light generated by the spell, _Considering the fact that the technology was the deciding factor in getting Maybourne to agree to this, I doubt he'd feel inclined to keeping his side of the deal if it got smashed._

For a full ten minutes, the bright light bathed the room and anyone not wearing welder's goggles, meaning everyone, was forced to both close their eyes **AND** cover them in order to block out the radiance being given off by the spell. Eventually, though, the spell finished its work on the four teenagers and the glow faded out until the only illumination in the room was that provided by the electric lights overhead. Once his eyes got back to normal, Ethan looked towards the location of Harris and his 'team' and found, much to his satisfaction, that everything had gone exactly as he had planned. Each volunteer was now physically at the halfway point between their original ages and the age of the character they had been dressed up to look like. For Ms. Frasier that meant going from sixteen years of age to somewhere around the mid-twenties in terms of physical appearance. Harris, on the other hand, looked to be further into his late twenties than he had originally anticipated, but was still within three to four years of Ms. Frasier physically at the moment. Probably the person who aged the least was Cadet Hailey, since the character she had been dressed up to look like was biologically twenty-four years old, even though she had been cryogenically frozen for quite a while according the source material. Still, it meant that she would at most age about three maybe four years from her pre-spell age, which hopefully wouldn't be too much of an issue down the line. As for Rosenberg, she had gotten the full package deal with a body that was perfect in every conceivable way in terms of age appearance and physical…#ahem#...endowments. Her change was not restricted by the age of the original character because the body the character had been in was artificial. The only original part of the body the character had once possessed was the brain, with everything else being replaced with cybernetic bells and whistles. He believed the term used in the source material was 'prosthetic body' and, as he directed his eyes to the bed she had been placed on top of, he was thrilled to see that his hunch about direct contact with the primary host had been proven accurate. No longer was it simply a prop painstakingly put together by some Anime fan (a fan whom would be reported as having commit suicide, if he had heard it correctly), but rather it was now a marvel of science that would be fully capable of seeing to Ms. Rosenberg's unique medical needs.

_All in all, I do believe that I've outdone myself! _He thought as his mind came up with quite a few possible rewards Lord Janus would bestow on him, _Now, however, comes the bothersome part of the process._

"All right! Now we just let the four of them simmer for a few days, then I will start the final phase of the plan that will remove the foreign minds from their bodies without taking the memories, skills and abilities along for the ride." Ethan said as he began to remove the Janus vestments and wipe the blood off, "Major Wilson? You and your team will be in charge of keeping an eye on them. Be very careful around them from here on out because, from this point on, you are looking at four of the most dangerous people on the planet."

"Who exactly are they supposed to be?" Asked one particularly dim looking member of Wilson's team, causing the rest of them to shake their heads at his stupidity.

"Allow me to introduce Alexander Harris aka Solid Snake, Willow Rosenberg aka Major Motoko Kusanagi, Cassandra Frasier aka Lara Croft and Jennifer Hailey aka Nina Williams," he said matching each of the original person's names with the mind that was even now beginning to settle into its new home. "With the track records those characters have, I would recommend Major Wilson that you impress upon your men not to come within ten feet of them, nor fall for any deceptions."

"Understood." Major Wilson said with a respectful nod.

"Be sure that you do understand because I would hate to tell the Colonel who was responsible for his four prize soldiers escaping, suffering a serious injury or being turned into corpses," Ethan said, making it clear how short their lives would be cut if such things happened.

"You needn't worry, Mr. Rayne. My men are professionals." Wilson said with a bit of annoyance, "None of them would be foolish enough to give these four an opening to try something."

"Good to hear, Major," Ethan said before making his way for the entrance/exit to the room. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm a bit fatigued from the spell. I'll be in the office down the hall getting some rest. Be sure to wake me if something odd happens."

"Yes sir." Wilson said before he began barking out orders to his men.

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_**Four Days Later, Purgatory Max, Colonel Maybourne's Office, Morning**_

"Is it about time to cancel the spell?" Maybourne asked as he looked at his computer that was not only providing an audio/video feed from the lab but also transmitting a feed of him back, albeit distorted in order to conceal his identity from the subjects.

"Yes. The changes they've undergone, both mentally and physically, should have had ample time to settle." Rayne said from his position in the lab closest to the camera, "Once the spell is broken, though, all four of them will likely be seriously disoriented as their minds try to make sense of the new information in terms of memories, skills and senses. I'd wager that based on what I've read of these four, they'll need at least three days before they're ready to do anything besides the basics."

"Good. They'll need to be ready to show off their abilities within two weeks or else my backers will start to get impatient." He said, careful not to make it sound like this was an officially sanctioned operation by the United States Military.

"That should be adequate time for them to become comfortable enough to put on a decent show. However, I believe they will likely need a bit more time before you put them to work in real missions," Rayne said, no doubt referring to the fact that memories and skills alone did not a super soldier make.

"So noted. Begin the process to break the spell." He ordered as he prepared to put the final phase of the plan into place, "Notify me when it has been successfully terminated."

"Of course." Ethan said before the connection was terminated.

He waited a full two minutes before opening a communication line to the closing actors of his little scenario.

"Colonel Makepeace?" He asked in order to make sure that the connection was active.

"Reading you loud and clear, sir." Makepeace said via audio only.

"Is your team ready to go?" He asked, referring to the fifteen man team that would close the little show he'd orchestrated.

"Yes sir. We've arrived at the perimeter of the complex and will begin our insertion on your command." Makepeace replied promptly with the sound of guns being readied in the background.

"Good. It should be show time shortly." He said as began feeding images to the soldier's equipment, "These people and objects are to be left untouched and undamaged. Do whatever you have to in order to ensure this. Naturally your goal will be to cut off as many loose ends as possible, but it must be done in such a way so as to seem unavoidable at best and accidental at worst. After all, our soon to be new recruits will not be as amicable to joining us if they think we're just thoughtless killers."

"Understood. What about Rayne?" Asked Makepeace with some concern in his voice.

"Capture him but do so out of the sight of the new recruits. He must appear to them as though he has managed to slip out and escape in order for my scenario to work." He replied firmly, so that there would be to room for misinterpretation, "Once you have him, move him immediately to the secondary chopper and have it take off for the nearest N.I.D safe house. I know that this will put some of your men out of luck in getting out of here for a while, but it's necessary."

"Not a problem, sir. Unlike some teams I could mention, my men don't mind roughin' it a bit when necessary." Makepeace said with some venom in his voice.

"Good. You're looking at the beginning of a new age, Colonel." Maybourne said, putting another layer of grease on the wheel that was his insertion team leader, "If the four volunteers work out the way I believe they will, perhaps we could consider you for the next round of upgrades."

"I thank you for the consideration sir but I think I'll stay with what I've got for the time being." Makepeace said, sounding reluctant to agree to a process that was unconventional.

"Very well." He said in response.

Right then he noticed a red light flickering in the corner of his screen, indicating that someone else was attempting to establish a connection with him. Seeing as how it had taken special modifications to arrange a connection with Makepeace, the only other place the call could be coming from was the lab where Rayne was located. Most likely it meant that the spell had been successfully broken and Ethan was attempting to notify him of this.

"We just received our green light, Colonel. Commence insertion. I'll meet you at the east entrance." He said before sending his dummy message back to Rayne that there was a communication error in the connection.

Getting up from his seat, he knew he'd first have to go to the central computer core and delete all records of his involvement with the Purgatory Max facility. His scenario hinged on the point of him being the 'good guy' Colonel coming to rescue Harris and the others. While he didn't anticipate that the four of them would attempt to backtrack to this moment and snoop around, he couldn't discount the possibility either. Given Ms. Rosenberg's new abilities, he would have to be extra thorough in deleting the computer records and burning the paper ones. While he wasn't an expert in the character she had been dressed up as, he'd read enough to be wary of leaving any digital evidence behind that could ruin his plans. As far as Rosenberg and the others would know, this facility was under the command of his predecessor right up until Makepeace's team barged in. They would be told that the man had been showing increasing signs of mental instability right up until the end and that this 'experiment' was likely an attempt by the man to improve his standing amongst the military community. Of course this man would be found dead later, shot several times in the torso and head, with a few incriminating pieces of evidence on his person.

It took five minutes total to completely destroy or delete the paper trail connecting him to the facility and he just barely managed to make it to the east entrance in time to hook up with the insertion team. Fortunately, he had taken the time to slip into standard combat fatigues, including a bulletproof vest so that he would at least look the part of being a part of the team. After a few exchanged words, in which Makepeace informed him that the prison sentries had been dealt with, they proceeded down to the lab.

By the time that they reached the entrance/exit, he could hear restless sounds coming from inside and he could tell that those inside were beginning to feel anxiety as a result of his absence. Good. That would make Major Wilson's team more likely to open fire when Makepeace's team charged in giving the insertion team a valid excuse to return fire, thus tying up loose ends. He himself, of course, would stay completely out of sight until Makepeace gave the all clear signal in order to avoid the danger of one of the scientists or soldiers implicating him verbally. Makepiece and his team were good but there was always the chance that one person might yell out 'Maybourne, what are you doing' at the wrong time and ruin everything. With a single signal to Makepiece, his team stormed into the room and the sounds of automatic gunfire filled the air to be accompanied by screams seconds later. This went on for about ten minutes before silence once more became the dominant feature in the area, with only the footfalls of Makepeace and his men filling the air. He waited three more minutes and then strode in like he had been sweeping the surrounding area himself and had just come back.

"What's the sit rep, Colonel?" He asked Makepeace, managing to put the effect of being slightly out of breath into his voice.

"The rogue N.I.D troops put up heavy resistance, sir. We had no choice but to use lethal force." Makepeace replied, putting genuine regret into his voice, "Most of the scientists died as well from stray fire. The ones that are still alive are unconscious and I don't think they'll be in any condition to talk anytime soon."

"What of Ethan Rayne? Intel said he'd be here as well." He asked making sure he was heard by Frasier and the others.

"He's escaped. I sent three men after him but they haven't reported anything of use back." Makepeace replied but in a way that hinted that the chaos mage's disappearance wasn't thanks to him or his men.

_Not good! He's crucial to producing more super soldiers!_ Harry thought as he tried to figure out how to run damage control if Makepeace's men didn't capture Rayne, _While the four 'prototypes' here should be enough to pacify the brass in the short term, I'll need Rayne ASAP to keep things from blowing up in my face._

"We'll get the survivors and the four civilians here out first and then conduct a thorough search of the immediate area around the prison." He stated as though there was no other plan to follow, "If nothing turns up we'll put a bulletin out to all of the police in the nearest towns, cities and shacks in the area in the hopes of getting a line on him."

"Yes sir! You heard him, men! Stabilize the wounded and get ready to escort the civilians to the choppers." Makepeace yelled out with authority, causing his man to snap into action.

With that handled, Maybourne moved over to the 'volunteers' and began to assess any damage that they might have incurred as a result of the firefight. He knew he ordered Makepeace not to damage Harris or the others and to avoid putting bullet holes in Rosenberg's maintenance bed, but there was always the chance that something got through. Looking over Harris, Frasier and Hailey, he could tell that the disorientation Rayne predicted still had a pretty firm hold over them but they were managing. Rosenberg on the other hand, once the restraints were removed, was jerking around like a badly operated puppet. That didn't exactly fill him with confidence about her future or the future of the prosthetic body industry that would be born through her, but he was willing to give her some time. After all, if learning to deal with a prosthetic arm or leg was difficult for normal people in the present then learning how to master a full body prosthetic would likely be ten times harder than anything he could imagine. Still, he hoped that the memories and skills she retained from her fictional character would be enough to smooth the process out as well as speed it up a bit. He hadn't been lying to Rayne earlier when he said that his superiors wanted to see the results of their venture sooner rather than later, but he actually felt he had a month before he'd need to show the four of them off. He'd bring in specialists in the field of physical rehabilitation for new prosthetic users as well as those who worked with people who'd just begun to recover their motor skills after a serious injury. With a little luck that would be all that the red-but-now-purple-headed young woman would need in order to be able to move around without giving any outward sign that she wasn't human. From there he'd wager that the combat skills and abilities of one Major Motoko Kusanagi would be easy to utilize and that it would only take a week to become familiar enough with to impress the brass.

However, as he saw Xander 'Solid Snake' Harris get his walking legs back well enough to stand, he figured that he'd better start with his 'I am your ally' routine.

"Take it easy, kid. You've just been through a rather messy situation." He said, sounding like an uncle would towards a nephew.

"Who the hell are you?" Harris asked with a voice that was a little rougher and jaded than what he'd heard before over the communication connection.

"Colonel Harry Maybourne, United States Army." He said introducing himself trying to sound as honest as he could, "As for your next question, which is probably how we found you, we've been on the trail of several rogue N.I.D elements for a while now and only recently managed to find out about this project of theirs recently."

"Where's Rayne?!" Harris asked and there was no mistaking the tone in his voice as one that promised significant pain for the Brit should the new Solid Snake ever catch up with him.

"We don't know. We know he was in the room prior to our entry but he seems to have slipped out in the middle of all the gunfire." He replied truthfully without having to construct any artificial facts, "Once you're safely away, we'll sweep the area for him. Don't worry! If he's out there we'll find him and 'persuade' him to undo the damage he's done."

That seemed to satisfy the young man as well as the others who were letting Harris lead the Q&A session on their current situation. However he thought he saw a bit of suspicion in the eyes of former cadet Hailey, but that was most likely from second hand stories she might have heard from Major Carter. He was confident that with a bit more effort he could discredit those stories or at least convince the recipient of Nina Williams' skills that he was a changed man. If that failed, then he'd probably, at the very least, have to try and gain the backing of at least one member of SG-1 before her suspicions would go away.

_Let's hope it doesn't come to that._ He thought since he knew the chances of succeeding in something like that were somewhere between slim and none.

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_**On Top of a Truck Entering Cheyenne Mountain, Eight Months Later**_

He remained as still as a rock atop the supply truck and waited until it was on the verge of coming to a complete stop before he rolled to the left away from the elevator.

Dropping the concrete floor beneath, he made less sound than a dropped pin and quickly moved off to the side so as not to bump into any of the MPs by accident as they unloaded the vehicle. Once he was sure that the majority of the men in the area had their attention focused on the truck and its contents, he slipped around them and entered the elevator just as the doors closed. It was vacant but he knew that the soldiers he'd gotten by would call for the car again soon so, without hesitation, he popped open the hatch to the roof of the elevator car and went through it. A few seconds later his prediction was proven accurate when three MPs entered the elevator with an armload of supplies which, if intel was correct, would be headed to the SGC complex below. It was a brief five minute ride but he didn't stick around too long since he soon found the air vent he'd been waiting for. With judicious use of his combat knife, he unscrewed the grating and, after **carefully** placing it on the roof of the elevator, he slipped inside with the scraping of cloth against steel being the only noise made.

Thankfully, amidst all the noise from the machinery in the shaft and the MPs own chatter, they didn't hear anything.

_You know, with such lousy security, I'm tempted to leave little post it notes here and there suggesting how they could make the place more secure._ He thought as he carefully crawler towards point A, where he'd meet up with the others, _Sadly the Colonel knows me well enough to anticipate something like that and forced me to give them up before leaving. _

Once he reached the point in the trip where he'd be disembarking from the vents, he was surprised to see that rather than be empty at this point in time like he'd been told it would be there were at least five men in the room, including the infamous Colonel O'Neill. From the way Maybourne described the guy, he'd expected an obnoxious jerk who got passed over for most promotions because he rubbed his superiors the wrong way. What he saw when he looked in was a man reaching the end of his field career but still managed to earn his pay when it mattered. In any case, though, it meant that exiting via the men's locker room was definitely not an option, since even at his best he doubted he could exit the vent and put the vent back into place without being noticed. So he decided to move on to the next available exit point so as not to stray too far from his assigned path to point A. The room that the next vent let out into was thankfully empty, but he still took the necessary effort to remove the grating without making a sound. In less than a minute, both feet were on the floor of the on base living quarters for someone although there weren't any obvious decorative pieces to give him a clue as to who it belonged to. He was about halfway to the door when his soliton radar picked up someone approaching the door to the room. Rapidly looking around, he spotted no immediate places nearby that could conceal him easily since the closet was too shallow to conceal him even with the stealth camo turned on. What looked like a cabinet for books, papers and knick-knacks was also out of the question since none of the spaces between the shelves were big enough for him too squeeze into. In the end, he had to go with something that made him feel like something of a peeping tom but as he heard the footfalls come into dangerous range outside the door he dove to the floor and rolled beneath the bed.

_Good thing this person likes big beds._ He thought as the doorknob turned and the door opened, _I can hide underneath here and have room to spare._

As he watched the person enter the room he could only see the dirt covered boots of the soldier, since given the bed's position relative to the door and his position underneath the bed it was the only thing he could see without moving closer to the edge of the bed. However this didn't last as the person moved towards the closet he was able to see more and almost choked on his own spit in surprise since it looked like he had snuck into the room of a female officer. At this point his Snake side warred with his Xander mind, since while the proper thing would be to look away or close his eyes at this point he found that he just couldn't bring himself to miss out on what he expected to happen next. Seconds later his prediction was proven right when, piece by piece, the female officer disrobed, no doubt with the intention of getting into some clean clothes for a debriefing or something. First the boots got kicked off and then came the pants, revealing some **nice** toned legs with an almost golden tan that caused him to imagine what the woman would look like on the beach. Then his brain almost froze when he realized that instead of standard issue female underwear or boxers, this woman actually wore something a step shy of thong bikini. Fortunately he was able to shake his mind back online but it was still a sight to see as far as he was concerned. Next to be tossed off was a camo jacket and then a standard short sleeved black t-shirt revealing some toned, but not muscled, abs, making it clear that this was not a pencil pusher or lab jockey he was looking at. Fortunately for him, his position did not allow him to see past the lady's mid-riff because he was pretty sure that if he got to see any more of her his brain would blow a fuse.

God must have been interested in seeing what that would be like because, a moment later, the woman chucked her bra, revealing black lace.

He hoped that it would end there, considering that it would only make it that much harder for him to keep silent and hidden if the woman went any further, but God it seemed wanted to push the envelope all the way with him. For instead of putting on a new bra, shirt and pair of pants like he'd hoped, she instead proceeded to remove her thong-like panties, inadvertently showing him not only her rack but her bare butt as well. However what blew him away was the fact that he now had a face to go with the supermodel body and it was then that he swore to himself that he would **never EVER** speak of this to anyone. After all, he was fairly certain that both Cassandra and Hailey would castrate him if they learned he'd stumbled into a peep show involving Major Carter and Willow would probably lecture him both in person and by codec for a long time. Fortunately for him, she soon went into the small bathroom that the room had, probably to take a shower, and once he heard the water begin to flow loudly enough he slipped out of the room as quickly as stealth would allow.

The rest of his sneaking through the corridors of the SGC, thankfully, was relatively uneventful with only a few brief moments when someone paused as though they heard him before moving along. Eventually he made it to point A and that was the central computer room for the entire complex. Stepping inside, he looked about the room to see if any of the others had made it there ahead of him but saw nothing aside from the humming servers and databanks. However a small shift in the air alerted him to someone coming at him from the right and, just like Solid Snake would, he pulled out his SOCOM HK USP compact tactical gun out and brought it around in that direction. However he realized a second too late that there had been another person on the approach from the opposite direction, leaving him only time enough to lean to the side to avoid the object he sensed coming at his head. To counter the other threat he removed one hand from his SOCOM HK and pulled out his combat knife and placed it just short of where he figured the attacker's stomach was since this would force that person to stop or get gutted. Feeling a small gust of air consistent with a running person coming to a sudden stop, he knew he'd played his cards right.

If you three are quite finished trying to outdo one another, we have a mission briefing to start. came Willow's voice, via his codec, sounding annoyed.

With her comment he now knew what was going on and secretly agreed with her that they had better things to do than compete with one another. In front of him he watched as Cassandra 'Lara' Frasier disengaged her stealth camo to reveal that she had chosen to go with a basic jean and tank top combo with her ammo back pack completing the ensemble. With a pair of HK USP Match pistols aimed at him, he was glad that she didn't have the silencer on them since it would have made for a rather unpleasant beginning to the meeting. Angling his head a bit so he could look behind him, he saw Jennifer 'Nina' Hailey crackle into existence as her own stealth tech disengaged, revealing she'd chosen to wear a full 'catwoman- like bodysuit with guns and knives sheathed every few inches. The weapon she'd brought to bear against him had been a katana which, if it was the one he'd seen her used back at the base, was state of the art and able to cut through most of the lighter metals. Cassandra was the first to holster her weapons but for Hailey it took a bit more effort on her part to keep from following through on her attack. It was always a problem for her because, unlike the rest of them, her character was an assassin through and through. He knew the character's history pretty well since he was an official videogame freak and he could only imagine what it was like to have the memories of an assassin who couldn't remember her past bouncing around a person's head. While the former cadet still had most of her marbles, the fact that the life of an assassin so dominated Nina Williams' mind made certain habits hard to kick.

"You're late, Xander." Cassandra said with a faint British accent, "We all pretty much got here two minutes ago. What kept you?"

"My men's locker room entry point was blocked so I had to look for some other way into this level. It took a while." He replied, covering up any of his unconscious tells by turning most of his face away while he holstered his gun and sheathed his blade.

"Why don't you just tell them that you couldn't get out from Major Carter's room until she went into the bathroom?" Willow asked as she faded into visibility, wearing the same gray shaded combat outfit she'd been wearing when Rayne had cast his spell.

He knew right then and there that the cat was out of the bag and that if Willow's words weren't enough to mess things up, the guilty look his face would fill in the blanks. For a moment he couldn't believe that Willow would say something like that, since it went beyond the usual playfulness they had between them as friends back in Sunnydale. However his mind quickly reminded him that, ever since she had been placed in a Motoko Kusanagi prosthetic body, she'd gradually started to lose many of the inhibitions he usually attached to her. Not to say that she was like Faith or anything, but she definitely liked messing with his head more than she used to. Looking at Cassie and Jenny, it was clear that their shock quickly was turning into anger but thankfully a beeping in his ear saved him from trouble as it indicated that the Colonel was attempting to make contact. Seeing that the rest of them also were getting beeped, he hoped that they'd put a hold on any tongue lashing (the painful kind rather than the pleasurable ones) until after the mission. Crouching down to one knee, he pressed the right point just behind his left ear to initiate the connection his end of things.

"Snake here. All team members have reached point A and are preparing to head to point B." He said softly, knowing that his voice would be carried by the nanites in his blood even if he went to barely a whisper in volume.

"Good. According to my mole in the SGC, SG-12 will be going through to a planet thought to possess a potent weapon that could be useful for planetary defense." Maybourne said as he dove right into the mission briefing, "Hammond and his people have tried to acquire this technology through diplomatic channels but without success. It will be your job to sneak through the Stargate, infiltrate the complex where the weapon is located and then acquire the schematics for the device. Bear in mind that these people are called the Tolen and are very technologically advanced. You'll need to stay on your toes. Intelligence on them should be stored in the SGC databanks for The Major to download."

"Already done. I've got a few ideas of where to look for the weapon and information pertaining to it," Willow said via the communication gear in her prosthetic body. "Getting in and out without being spotted is going to be the problem. If they're half as advanced as the files indicate, I'm not sure how effective our stealth camo units are going to be."

"The Tolen are a relatively peaceful race so there shouldn't be anything more than light policing of the civilian areas. As for the more secure facilities, I believe that as long as you're careful and work together, I have no doubt you will succeed in your mission." Maybourne said with genuine confidence in their abilities.

"Any restrictions?" Hailey asked professionally as she was no doubt committing the mission details to memory.

"Avoid creating a body count as best you can. Corpses turning up will only increase the alert level amongst the Tolen making it more difficult to move around." Maybourne replied with precision, "If something happens, and given SG1s track record it most likely will, you are to abort the mission and wait for SG1 to return to the Stargate to escape."

"What makes you think they'll be able to make it to the gate if something comes up?" He asked, wanting to find out just what the chances were of them getting a return trip home.

"I think that both Agents Williams and Croft will be able to tell you, Snake, that O'Neill and his bunch have an uncanny knack for getting out of tight spots." Maybourne said with some genuine respect for the team he so disliked, "They'll manage somehow."

"Understood." He said, hoping that the confidence the Colonel, Cassie and Hailey had in SG1 was justified.

"They're due to go through the gate to the Tolen home world in one hour. Be there in time to pass through the gate and make sure you do so quickly to minimize the possibility of SGC personnel seeing ripples in the event horizon." Maybourne ordered, implying that that would be one of the riskiest parts of the mission, "Over and out."

With that the communications connection was severed and the waiting game began until the time when SG1 would go through the Stargate.

"Did you mess with the cameras in this room, Willow?" He asked his friend, who looked him glassy eyed for a moment before life returned to them.

"Sure did. As far as they're concerned, this place is completely empty with all systems running normally." She replied with a smile of pride at her ability to manipulate computer data.

"Okay then. The game's Poker and bets will be in the form of the paperwork for future missions." He said as he took a deck of cards out of one of his strap pockets.

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	24. The Yellow Flames of Change

"The Yellow Flames of Change" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryley[underscorebreen[athotmail[dotcom

(BtVS/Transformers the Movie(2007))

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material featured in this drabble/short. They are the property of their respective creators and associated companies. I am not making any money off of this whatsoever. I write this for the enjoyment of the readers and myself. So please take your fingers away from the speed dial buttons for your lawyers and put your cell phones back into your pockets. I assure you any amount of money you gain from me will in no way make up for what you will have to pay your legal aide just to get the ball rolling with a lawsuit.

Note: I've pretty much been dying to do something like this ever since I first saw the Transformers movie last summer. The only thing really keeping me from writing it was the fact that I was unable to locate a good pirated copy of it on the internet to download. Fortunately with the recent release of the movie onto DVD I can now do a crossover without any problems whatsoever. Keep in mind though that while I will be doing my best to make sure that the majority of my film info is in keeping with facts attached to the film I will be changing a few things here and there. For one thing while a certain autobot will have a significant role in this the transformer will not have the alternate vehicle form the people in charge of the flick had chosen to use. I'll leave it to you to figure out who this autobot is.

Now as far as when this takes place in the BtVS universe it'd be roughly during season 3 before and during the episode entitled 'The Zeppo'. However due to an inability to work things out just right with the canon episode details I'll be making it so that the episode takes place over the course of several days rather than forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Also if you notice any factual errors like 'this did not even come out that year' please suppress your inner desire to point it out. I write fanfic and these drabbles/shorts because I like telling a story not because I want to be factually correct in ever way.

Now hit the intro music (season 2 1980's version)…

_The Yellow Flames of Change_

_**Sunnydale High School, Hallways, Noon**_

Friends.

That one word managed to sum up why he lived and why he always tried so hard at everything he did.

However it was also the reason he was currently walking aimlessly in the hallways of Sunnydale High School wondering how he could hold onto those he called friends. Contrary to what some might think he wasn't blind, he knew what was going on with the gang behind his back, and he knew that they were seriously giving the 'fray adjacent' idea some thought. The reason for this being because aside from the few remaining skills and abilities left over from the Halloween soldier possession he really hadn't improved combat skill-wise. He was still getting pummeled by demons every other night. More often than not one of the others had to come and pull his fat out of the fire when they went nest busting. Even though he actually put some thought into his moves before throwing himself at a demon he still wound up with the Scooby with the most bruises or scrapes at the end. That was what he had been discussing with Oz earlier, he needed to find his thing, he needed to find something he could contribute to the team that would make him a valued member. He knew his strength wouldn't be in fighting hand-to-hand like Buffy and magic was definitely a ticking time bomb for him considering his past luck with it. He was still in high school so demonic knowledge of Giles' caliber was not an option and research was limited since he could only read the books written in English. So if he couldn't fight, couldn't do magic and could only research on the most amateurish level then what else could he do that would make him useful to the team.

As he was walking by the student lounge he looked at the new TV that the student council had convinced Snyder to put there so that people could watch something between classes or at lunch. It had been a fight since it was pretty much the troll's mission in life to make every teenager's high school years a perfect match to hell on Earth. Currently on the TV was a re-run episode of 'Dukes of Hazzard' showing Bo and Luke once again making the jump across a broken down bridge while the police car chasing them takes a nose-dive into the muck below. He smiled at this since a couple of good old boys showing up people in authority always managed to cheer him up and prove to him that the underdog can still win in the end. It was then, when the scene on the TV focused on the General Lee tearing down the dirt road yelling out in joy at once again managing to pull off a victory, that an solution to his problem hit him square in the face.

He could be the wheelman of the team!

After all there were only two or three vehicles available to the Scoobies and one of them would be lucky to make the posted speed limit. There was Giles' old clunker that looked like it would fall apart any second, Oz's van but that was tied up often in the transporting of Dingoes stage equipment and Cordelia's car. If he could get his hands on a half decent car he might just be able to be the Scooby gang's main means of transport when on a mission. He could see it now: dark magic ritual going on across town? Never fear Xander's here! He can get you there with time to spare so that Buffy can kick ass, take names and still be home in time to meet her curfew. Need to lure a pack of hellhounds into a trap? No Problem! Just tie a couple of juicy stakes to the back of his car and he'll lead them right into it with no trouble at all. Unfortunately just as he was getting his own personal high out of finding a way he could still contribute to the team he realized one major chink in his plan.

He didn't **HAVE** a car **NOR** did he have the money to buy one!

Due to the poor treatment of Tony and Jessica Harris his allowance pretty much consisted of whatever spare change he could pocket after going to the liquor store to get their order. The people there knew him by name and knew that he wasn't some punk kid looking to scam some booze out of them so they didn't even bother adhering to the 'do not sell alcohol to minors' rule. That combined with the odd jobs that he'd managed to do in his spare time when school or hanging out with the gang wasn't an option was barely enough to get him a change of clothes every now and then. He even pretended to **LIKE** those god awful Hawaiian print shirts when the truth of the matter was that they were all from a thrift store and he wore them because he couldn't afford anything else. That was the real reason why he had possessed so little money for the Halloween costume the previous year and why he usually resorted to vending machine food to eat. To even **contemplate** buying a car was lunacy in the extreme because even the cheapest rust bucket at a used car lot cost at least four or five thousand dollars. There was no way he'd be able to scrounge together even half that amount in time to keep the Scoobies from strapping him to the sidelines of the fight.

Then a glimmer of hope hit him as he recalled a little known fact that had been hidden from just about everyone who knew the Harris family.

Despite what some might think not everyone in the Harris Clan was a complete failure. One of them, his Uncle Rory, actually had a fairly successful business in repair and restoring of cars that rich fops sent to the junk yard because of a few dings and dents. While each job took awhile the end result was that Uncle Rory could sell the repaired or restored vehicle for quite a handsome sum. True most of the money he made went right back into buying the parts or equipment he needed to work on other cars but it was still a pretty decent occupation.

_Maybe he has a car though he'd be willing to lease out to me for a monthly fee or something!_ He thought with that glimmer of hope growing in brightness, _It doesn't have to be a top of the line model or anything! As long as it's in pretty good condition I'd be happy with that!_

Right then and there he decided that tonight he'd head up to his Uncle Rory's place and see about finally getting some wheels!

With such hope inside of him he knew that his luck was going to start changing for the better.

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_**Space, Approaching Earth at High Speed, One Hour Later**_

_I'm going to be late!_ Thought the object that looked like a cross between a metal sculpture and an asteroid, _They're going to arrive on the planet a couple of hours ahead of me! Stupid launcher!!_

She had been pretty much cursing like this the entire trip and the only times she stopped was when she tried to use her long range sensors to make sure she was still following the flight path set by her comrades ahead of her. She had been chosen to go with Optimus after the signal from the scout Bumblebee had been received but, due to a freak power failure in her launcher, she was now hours behind them. As it was they were just inside the maximum range of her sensors but she knew that they'd wait for her to arrive before starting anything. After all, while time was of the essence in the search for the Cube, her sharpshooter skills and long range combat specialty would be useful. If they ran into any Decepticons, she'd be able to pick them off one by one, freeing up the others to secure the Alspark. Still, she was still mad that it had taken Wheeljack so long to get the launcher back to full power so, until she was reunited with the others, she'd spend her time picturing the exploding heads of Decepticons as her shots went through them.

It was a surefire way to cheer her up after all.

Sadly it was about then that the Achilles heel of all snipers and long-range combat specialists came into play. It was a well known fact that long range fighters were not all that good when it came to close quarters combat and that was why they usually worked with someone else who was skilled at close quarters fighting. As such because her sensors and attention was focused on the distant shapes of her comrades, she missed the small cluster of meteors coming at her from the side. Slamming into her hard, one after another, she could feel the armor on that side buckling under the blows and peripherally sensed that the strikes were knocking her off course. It was only one half to three quarters of a degree each time but that could make all the difference in the world as far as where she would touch down. The worst part of it all was that she could do nothing to put herself back on course since she was essentially a metal projectile that had already been fired from a weapon. As such, she had no maneuvering thrusters, no engines of her own to fire, leaving her with nothing left to do but accept that she was going to crash land several miles from the others.

Then, of course, another complication came up in the form of one final meteor slamming into her side with an almost arrowhead-like shape and strong metal in its makeup. Where the other objects had just made a sizeable dent in her side, this one actually managed to penetrate the outer armor that was intended to protect her vital systems during entry into the planet's atmosphere. As the pointed meteor bounced off of her, she noticed that the hole itself wasn't all that big and she might luck out on re-entry. However there would be some damage one way or another, so it'd probably be a good idea to begin contemplating the different ways she could reroute things around the components that would bear the brunt of things.

_I should probably shut down everything except sensors and perhaps my data banks just to make sure that interaction with the planet's E.M field and atmosphere don't interact with them poorly._ She thought as one by one she began to shut down all but the two mentioned systems, _This planet had better really have the cube here or else I'm gonna be in a bad mood for the next century!_

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_**Rory Harris' Repairs and Restorations, The Back Lot, Sundown**_

"Come on, Uncle Rory! There has got to be **something** half decent on this lot that you can lease out to me or accept monthly payments for!" Xander yelled as he followed his uncle around as the man made his rounds of his business.

"I'm sorry, Xander! You're my favorite nephew and normally I wouldn't hesitate to help you out, but everything here is already spoken for by paying customers." Rory said sounding genuinely regretful that he couldn't lend his young relative a hand, "I can't just go back on my promises to them now, can I?"

"I know but…" Xander replied agreeing that it wouldn't be right of his uncle to accept a job only to do a one eighty later.

"Then again…there are those three special projects I've been working on for some Hollywood big shot way in the back. He said he'd pay top dollar for some special modifications to them, but I haven't seen any new deposits in the account aside from the down payment." Rory said as he scratched his chin in thought, "The guy looked pretty slick and official, but it's looking more and more like I'm being hustled. Come with me. I had planned to do a little work on them after doing my rounds but I suppose I can skip giving the place a once over just this once."

With a little hope in his heart, Xander followed his uncle to an area just to the left of the large garage where he did work on cars that required work done on the undercarriage. When he saw the three cars there he had to wonder who the hell would want a blue and white '57 Chevy Bel Aire, a pink and white Ford Mustang and a Mazda RX-7 with yellow flames on the hood as well as the side, not to mention three shiny steel pipes going from the front tire all the way to the bumper. The first one was alright, if a little outdated, but the other two were bizarre either because of their color combos or because of the accessories the RX-8 had added onto it.

"I bet you're wondering why the customer asked me to add that yellow flame trim and tri-pipe siding?" Rory asked once he noticed where his nephew's gaze was directed, "Well supposedly its going to be used for some sort of dare devil character for football field sized jumps in the streets of some city. Some sort of street sci-fi action thing I think he said it was. When he gave me the job for the RX-7, all he said was that he wanted it to look 'cool' and suitable for a show like that."

"Well it certainly looks…eye catching." Xander said not wanting to tell his Uncle that it looked like it belonged on the set of some hokey 80's TV show.

"Yeah. Looks like a freak show, doesn't it?" Uncle Rory asked rhetorically as though he could read his nephew's mind, "So just to make sure it wasn't a complete waste of my time, I made a few additions that will actually make the piping and flames a little more functional and a little less decorative. Take a closer look at the hood."

Doing as instructed he got closer to the RX-7 and looked closely at the hood to see if there was anything special about it that his uncle would want him to see. At first it looked like a perfectly normal looking hood, albeit with a bright yellow flame design on it. However, when he looked a bit more carefully, he could see that certain areas of the hood where the flame design was had little holes grouped in rough shapes. While he was fairly certain that this was probably what his Uncle Rory had wanted him to find he was unsure as to how this could be used to any benefit.

"So you planning on making the sure the engine has air conditioning or something?" He asked not sure what else to say under the circumstances.

"That is half the reason, since keeping your engine from overheating is a definite must, especially when the driver is pushing it to its limits. However in this case I gave them a dual feature in that they will also take in air, mix with the fuel inside and then be used for an extra potent bit of combustion that will force the engine to work harder before expelling the flame out of the ends of those pipes." Rory said with pride in his voice at his resourcefulness.

"So basically you just rigged it so that it has a pair of rocket engines on the back?" he asked as he took what he'd been told and dumbed it down to simple terms.

"Well…yeah…if you want to put it in boring terms like that!" Rory replied, sounding a bit put out at his genius being reduced to such an unimpressive description, "The point is that when the car hits a certain speed, the system I made will engage and increase its speed by fifty percent."

"WOW!" he exclaimed imagining how that'd be like if he was behind the driver's seat.

"Assuming, of course, those additions I made keep the whole thing from blowing sky high of course." Uncle Rory said like it was an after thought that could easily overlooked.

That, of course, brought the coolness factor down by quite a bit since the possibility of death by explosion is something of a buzz kill.

Deciding it was probably best to move onto the other vehicles, he covertly routed the topic of conservation to the potential death machine.

"What about those other two cars? You gonna upgrade them too?" Xander asked, hoping that the answer was no.

"Nah! Those two are going to some rich brats as wedding gifts of some kind." Rory replied with obvious disdain for any vehicle he worked on going to someone for reasons like that, "Apparently they're getting married soon and the parents asked for these cars and these colors specifically." Rory shook his head and sighed, "Either the brats are big on the whole male blue and female pink thing or they're Elvis fans. Definitely!"

Xander was about to voice his own opinion of the color combos when he noticed something up in the air that looked like a shooting star or something. It was kind of pretty but then he noticed something that made him worry a little bit and that was the fact that it seemed to be getting bigger really fast. However it wasn't until it got to the size of a baseball that he began to worry that it might hit the ground nearby.

"Uncle Rory, I think it might be a good idea to move to the other side of your lot." He said, trying to sound more casual than he actually felt at the moment, "I'm not sure but I think that ball of fire up there is gonna touch down a little too close to here."

Rory looked up in the direction his nephew was looking and quickly spotted the growing ball of flame headed in their general direction. However, judging from the look of fear on the man's face, it was obvious that he thought the situation was a little more dangerous than he'd first thought. This was confirmed when he saw his uncle race for the garage only to return a few seconds later with three sets of keys.

"Xander! Quick! Use this to get the RX-7 to the other side of the lot **IMMEDIATELY**!" Uncle Rory ordered as he tossed a key at him while heading over to the pink and white Ford Mustang, "I think that space rock is going to touch down right **HERE!**"

"**SHIT!**" Xander's startled exclamation summed up the situation quite nicely.

Wasting no time, he raced over to the flame covered RX-7 and, after a little difficulty in getting the door open, he hopped inside. Looking at the dashboard and all the bells and whistles on the inside, he was kind of reminded of that old Knight Rider TV show with the A.I car KITT. Shaking that image out of his head quickly, he started the car up and floored the accelerator to get the vehicle away from the estimated ground zero of the ball of flame's touchdown point. He kept going until he was right up next to the blue Mustang that his uncle had gotten out of the way before shutting down the engine. Getting out, he could see his Uncle running back as fast as he could to save the one final blue car but looking up at the ball of flame that was now close enough to be the size of a wrecking ball he could tell that Rory wouldn't make it in time. With speed gained from numerous retreats from vampire hordes and determination that grew from his ever growing dislike of Deadboy, he tackled his Uncle to the ground.

"Forget it Uncle! It's too late!" Xander exclaimed as the two of them looked up just in time to see the meteorite slam into the blue and white '57 Chevy Bel Aire.

While he hadn't like the color or the model of the car he knew that this was going to cost his uncle big time when the parents of the rich brats came to pick up their vehicles. Still there was some good luck in that the meteorite didn't bounce or anything after the first hit so the rest of the lot was completely untouched. Getting up from the ground he looked to the smoking hole where the piece of space debris rested and wondered just what it looked like up close and personal. After all, he had seen countless movies and pictures of what space rocks looked like once they hit the Earth but he'd never actually seen one in person. At a curious pace, he began to advance on the big ass crater in the ground that had bits and pieces of the destroyed Chevy strewn around it. From the separate set of footsteps behind him he could tell that his uncle was also interested in seeing what had just obliterated half of his paycheck for the rich brats' job.

"So you think it came from outside the solar system or is it something that got knocked loose from the asteroid belt?" Uncle Rory asked as they gradually got close enough to look over the edge of the crater to see what lay inside.

"How the **HELL** should I know!?" Xander asked in annoyance at being asked something like that, "I'm barely passing basic science!"

"What? Your dad Tony told me you were doing great in school. Even said you managed to get a hold of two girlfriends at once." Uncle Rory said in confusion at the discovery of a possible contradiction in what his brother had told him.

"And you **BELIEVED** that! Tony was probably drunk off his arse or trying to make himself look good by bragging about his son's achievements!" he yelled back even though he knew it wasn't his uncle's fault.

It had been pretty much like this forever in that Uncle Rory always believed what his older brother told him, taking it as truth. Despite what an ass Tony was most of the time, Rory still looked up to his brother and tended to rationalize away things he didn't like or that went against his image of his brother. It was probably one of the real reasons why Rory didn't come by the house all that often and restricted his visits to holidays, even though they all lived in the same town. It wasn't that much of a surprise that his uncle wouldn't have believed any internal warnings saying that his brother was not being entirely truthful to him.

Just as he was about to take his words back, Xander heard an odd sound coming from inside of the crater that kinda reminded him of a sci fi sound effect involving futuristic machinery, with the clicking and whirring and pieces of metal coming together before revving up to their optimum rotations per minute. However the biggest sign that something was up was the big mechanical hand that reached up out of the crater and slapped down onto the ground. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen and, if it wasn't for the fact that he knew no movie company would come to Sunnydale to shoot a movie, he'd have thought he was on some kind of movie set. Things only got weirder when the hand pressed down onto the ground in order to lift a head and a body out of the crater to reveal some kind of space robot with neon blue looking eyeball things. With each second more and more of the machine came out of the crater until a leg came up and allowed the robot to step out onto solid ground. Once the other leg came out, he could see that the alien android was easily three or four stories high. Hell! He barely reached the middle of its shin for God's sake!!

Sadly something happened then that made the being's height a serious problem for him.

Just as it finished standing up straight, something seemed to go boom in its right side causing it to reflexively grasp the injured area like a human would. It also unfortunately caused it to lose its balance and start tumbling towards him and would most likely have crushed him if his Uncle Rory hadn't tackled him out of the way. With all the force of a building that just had its foundation blown to bits, the machine crashed to the ground in a heap. He could hear it give out a brief shriek as though it were in pain but it was so mechanized in how it sounded that it could easily have just been one of the being's parts twisting. He watched as it tried once more to rise to its feet but this time it didn't even get halfway before it once again cried out as though in pain and fell to the ground.

"I think it hurt itself." He said, stating the obvious due to the sheer bizarreness of the situation.

He began to take baby steps around it to get a better look at where he saw the boom happen, thinking insanely that perhaps it was something that he and his uncle could fix. Personally he blamed the idea on almost getting squashed and the fact that encountering a robot from outer space was weird even for the Hellmouth. Besides which, he'd seen enough Star Trek episodes to know that First Contact situations like this were crucial and dictated how the rest of the interactions between Earth and the robots would go. The fact that he'd probably become world famous for this and rake in a ton of money from people wanting to conduct interviews with him would be a definite plus. He'd finally manage to step out of the shadow his drunken parents had him in at the moment to become someone people would respect.

"Xander! What in great Caesar's ghost are you doin'!?" Rory yelled at him from his hiding place just behind a beat up old Ford GT, "Stop moving around like that!! Are you tryin' to get yourself killed!?"

"I don't think it's going to hurt me, Uncle Rory. I think it's too banged up to do anything by lie there and groan." He said once he managed to reach the perfect spot to peek at the area where the explosion had occurred.

"It could be trying to trick you!! It's like in 'Attack of the Killing Robots 4'!" Uncle Rory pointed out referring to one of his favorite B movie horror flicks, "They act all helpless and docile right up until the co-stars let their guard down and then they impale the idiots through the head with their metal spikes!"

"Yeah, well, in Star Trek you can never tell who the good aliens are and who the evil ones are just by their looks alone. They can be positively hideous in appearance and be some of the kindest people in the galaxy." He retorted with some annoyance at his uncle, "Then there are the ones who look likes a gift from heaven who turn out to be the most vile sons of bitches you could ever come across. Either way I'm willing to take a chance with this one."

That said, he tried to get a good look into the area where the boom happened to see if he could make sense of what he saw and how it could be fixed. From what he could tell, most of the damage centered around a single component with the rest of it just being mild scorching and cracking from the blast. Looking at what appeared to be wires that probably had been stuck into the destroyed component, it was probably something to do with control systems. Maybe it was like a nerve cluster or something and that was what prevented the robot from getting up as well as the source of its pain. As far as how to fix that though he was at a bit of a loss since he was fairly certain that nothing he could get his hands on would come even close to matching the component the robot had lost.

_So how the hell do I help this 'bot get back on its feet?_ He thought as he continued to peruse the machine's damaged spot.

Then it came to him that perhaps the robot might have some kind of auto-repair system that might allow it to repair itself on its own so long as it has enough power on hand. It might be like it was with humans and the ability the body has to repair most of its own problems on its own. Granted if this turned out to be a vital organ or something for the machine then it would definitely need a replacement since he doubted it could simply grow a new one. Then again was there really any sense in comparing human bodies to machine bodies like this? For all he knew this robot could really make a fully recovery even if it did lost some major components. Whatever the case he believed it would still need an infusion of power in order to survive never mind regenerate its missing part.

"Hey Uncle Rory? Do you still have that industrial strength portable generator here?" He asked as he decided that the power from that device would be the best he could do for the machine.

"Y-yeah! It's in the back behind the garage." Rory replied sounding a little less certain that the alien robot would kill his nephew.

Deciding he'd probably need a vehicle to move it he ran back over to the RX-7 and hopped in taking only a second to get the engine running. Eight minutes later he had the generator within ten feet of the robot's leg and figured that that'd be as good a place as any to attach the cords. The machine seemed to be taking notice of what he was doing but for some odd reason didn't seem to think what he was doing was a threat to it. Then again if he encountered something that didn't even come up to his knee then he probably wouldn't feel all that threatened either. Still he decided he'd try to convey that he was just trying to help it out as best he could so that there'd be no misunderstandings.

"Look I don't know if you can understand me or anything, but I'm just going to hook you up to this power generator and turn it on okay?" Xander asked tentatively as he started walking towards the side of the generator where the controls were located, "I'm doing this because I think that if you receive a steady flow of power you might be able to heal your injuries on your own."

He wasn't sure if the movement the robot made was meant to be a 'go ahead and do it' or a 'what is the Earthling doing' but he decided that there was only one way to find out. Switching on the generator, he ramped the power level up to about half power since he was unsure if he'd overload the 'bot by going to full power. As the power coursed through the cords connecting the generator to the giant robot, he could see the occasional arc of electricity jump around the point of contact. Looking up at the robot, he couldn't really see any sign that the electricity was either helping or hurting the alien machine but he took the fact that it wasn't thrashing about screaming as a good sign. However it was when he looked back at his uncle that he realized that there was one problem that needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

"Uncle you're going to need to shut down this area of the lot for awhile." He said as though telling someone to avoid a weak spot in the floor.

"Ye—WHAT!? WHY!?" Rory exclaimed as he caught himself before actually verbally committing himself to anything, "We should be report this to the authorities or the military or something!"

"Why? So we can get shoved into some unknown prison facility for the rest of our lives or be lobotomized so we don't tell anyone what we saw?" he asked as though it was all too obvious that telling the government or the local P.D would be suicide.

Naturally, this news caused his uncle to look as though he couldn't believe the stupidity of his earlier suggestions.

"Alright. I can tent off the area around the alien for awhile under the pretense of doing a custom paint job and not wanting the fumes to get out." Rory said as he decided to actually be of aide to his nephew rather than an enemy, "But problems are going to crop up when that rich couple come by looking for the cars they want to give to their bratty kids."

"Well hopefully it won't take long for the robot to get back on its feet and then you can tell Mr. and Mrs. Moneybags that a meteor came down from the sky and smashed the Chevy." He suggested since he figured it'd probably be safest to stick close to the truth, "After all, they can't possibly blame you for an act of nature or God, right?"

"I suppose not. Still what do you plan on doing when this thing is all better?" Rory asked sounding a little uncertain about that part of things.

"I dunno. Maybe help it learn English or something?" Xander replied, trying not to look like he hadn't thought that far in advance yet.

"Somehow I have the feeling this is either going to be one of the best ideas you've ever had or something parents will use to scare their kids at bedtime with." Rory said as he shook his head in disbelief at his nephew.

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_**Two Days Later, Sneaking Away from the Home of Tony and Jessica Harris, Evening **_

_Looks like I might have to come up with a plan B sooner than I thought._ Xander thought as he hopped another fence to put some distance between himself and his home, _There has been some progress in regenerating the missing part, it's going way too slow and I can tell the 'bot is getting impatient._

He had been checking up on the robot both before going into school and afterwards to see if there'd been any progress but even with the generator pumped up to maximum regeneration was going at a snail's pace. As of this morning he could see the signs of an outer casing coming into existence at both connection ports but nothing else as far as he could tell. The energy from the generator was definitely helping but it wasn't putting out enough power to aide her regeneration to satisfactory levels. He had suggested to his uncle that they try and hook the robot into the city's power grid but that idea had been vetoed because of the attention it could bring their way as well as the possibility of overloading it. The next idea had been to get more generators to hook up to the alien robot but that had fallen through when his uncle had informed him of the price of a generator these days. By that time he had been forced to make a mad dash for the school in order to make it in time for first period but as the day went on he replaced his happy places during history and science with new 'save the robot' plans. None of them were particularly brilliant since he was neither a mechanic nor someone who excelled in the sciences. A few times during the day he had made an attempt to bring Willow in on the situation but she'd just made one pathetic attempt after another to flee the area.

_Something big is definitely happening and they're deliberately trying to keep me out of it!!_ He thought angrily at the idea that his so-called friend would take his freedom of choice away from him, _Fine!! If they don't want to let me in on their secret then I won't let them in on mine!!_

The fact that his final plan, the one he was most confident in, required that he 'borrow' a few things from Giles' personal stash of magical stuff just meant that he'd have to be extra careful not to let the cat out of the bag. It had been a bit twitchy for him to consider using magic to solve something technological, but he'd participated in enough research sessions to retain some knowledge of how spells worked. While the vast majority of them did require that the person casting them have some innate ability, there were a few that just about anyone could do. One of them was the ability to take energy from the natural ley lines that spider webbed across the planet and channel them into life giving energy for the purposes of healing. True, he recalled that most magic users refrained from using this spell because it had a high probability of addicting the caster to the surge of energy, but he figured since he wasn't a natural magic user he should be fine. Besides which, he figured he'd have just enough time to perform the spell and get the alien robot on its feet before Giles came barging in with the others to stop him from doing something 'bloody foolish'.

Whether or not it did turn out to be something 'bloody foolish' remained to be seen.

Seeing the school getting larger in the distance, he quickly recalled what he had overheard the others talking about during school when they thought he couldn't hear them. Apparently those weird lady demons they'd tackled a few days ago had friends and the gang was going on a recon mission to figure out what was going on. Thankfully that would mean that the library itself should be completely empty, allowing him to get what he needed without anyone being the wiser.

Slipping through the hallways, he made sure to keep his senses on alert since there was always the chance that Snyder might still be prowling the halls. That or some new demon that decided to show up along with those demonnesses the gang had left to investigate. While it was true that most threats that the Scooby gang faced obeyed some weird law of fairness in that they usually only came at them one at a time, there were a few exceptions to that law that occurred occasionally. Considering the sort of luck he tended to have, it would be no surprise at all if some big scary demon crossed his path and tried to tear him to shreds. Therefore he peeked around every corner and did his best not to make a sound with every step that he took. It took a bit longer than he would have liked, but ten minutes later he was inside the library and making for G-Man's office. Fortunately with The Judge, Angelus and Acathala last year, he had a good idea of exactly where the more valuable texts were located along with the rare ingredients. Giles was probably so proud of the floor safe that he had managed to install without Snyder being the wiser but it'd take him less than five minutes to crack it.

In truth it took him four minutes and fifty-two seconds, but it still counted as less than five.

Once inside, he looked for the book that had the odd golden inlay design on the cover, the one that looked like a planet, since that was the one with the spell he needed. It was buried about three layers deep beneath some old journals, but eventually he found it and took it out. From there it was much easier to find the ingredients in there as well, although the jar with the sand he needed looked a bit whiter than he remembered. He supposed that the stuff he saw before was close to its expiration date or something. Once he had everything safely stowed in the tool box he brought along, he put everything he had taken out of the safe back in exactly how he had found it. A closed door here, a twirl of the dial there and lastly the floor planks put back into place, thus making it look as though no one had touched it at all. Of course if Giles had some kind of secret way of knowing if someone tampered with his personal stash then he might have even less time than he'd originally thought. So, without further delay, he exited from the library and made a mad dash for the nearest entrance/exit so as not to risk bumping into anyone in the hallways.

Little did he know that at least one person had seen him both enter and exit the library.

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_**Rory Harris' Repairs and Restorations, One Hour Later**_

"How's our robot doing?" Xander asked once he entered the curtained off area that his uncle had set up for him.

"Still looking pretty impatient for her part to grow back, but otherwise I'd say she's grateful for our help." Rory replied, sounding like he was no longer all that uncomfortable with that they'd been doing.

"She?" He asked, since it was pretty much impossible to determine gender at all from the collection of metal and wiring that made up the robot.

"Oh yeah! Just like I can tell whether a car is meant for a man or a woman, I can definitely say that this robot's a woman." Rory replied with some cockiness in his voice, "The way she moves, the tone of her voice and most of all the way she fidgets when she's impatient. All classic signs of femininity."

"Are you sure it's not a guy robot with some screwed up wiring?" Xander asked both because he didn't want his uncle to get a swelled head and because he considered the man's observational skills suspect.

"That's a pretty odd question, Xander. Anything you want to say to me?" Rory asked with a somewhat suspicious look in his eyes.

Naturally this brought back flashbacks of that whole locker room incident with Larry the linebacker when they were trying to find out the human identity of the werewolf. Ever since then he had been a little jumpy whenever someone asked him how he was getting along with another guy or if he thought the guy was good looking. Basically any question that veered a little too close to his sexual orientation made him edgy. So while in previous situations he had blurted out a vehement denial of anything even approaching him liking another guy, in this case he simply ignored the question.

"I think I might've figured out a way to get the she-bot back on her feet sooner rather than later." He said as he set down the tool box carrying what he'd use to the side of the tent, "What do you think of the nightlife in Sunnydale, Uncle Rory?"

"What do you mean? You know I spend most of my time here at the lot working on cars." Rory replied a little too perfectly and sounded more like he was reading from a cue card.

"What would you say if I told you that magic and demons were real?" he asked, hoping that there was at least one person in Sunnydale besides him that knew the truth aside from the bad guys and the Scooby gang.

"I'd say 'what took you so long' followed by 'I have known about it all for years'." Rory said back without missing a beat.

Of all the responses Xander'd thought he'd get from his uncle, this was definitely not one of them.

His, on the other hand, was a bit more predictable.

"Huh?" he squeaked in surprise.

"Despite what you probably thought, there are more people who know about what goes on in this town than you might think." Rory said with some amusement at the expression on his nephew's face, "The only reason they, like me, have not done anything about it is because we don't think there is anything that can be done about it. This town has existed here for decades and not once has it changed from what it is right now; a cesspool of demons and darkness where normal people survive through luck and ignorance."

"But if enough people got together and fought—" Xander began to say before being cut off by his uncle with a gesture.

"It still wouldn't change anything. All it would mean is that there'd be a fresh batch of demons moving in to replace the ones that had been slain." Rory said with a regretfully accepting shake of his head, "The bottom line is that unless the planet as a whole decided to take up the fight against the demons, all you'd be doing is fighting a battle you could never win. Add to that the fact that there are a number of people who would probably sell their souls for the right price and you'd have trust issues all over."

"So you just plan on sitting back and doing nothing!" Xander exclaimed in outrage that someone who knew what was going on was chickening out.

"I plan on fighting the battles I can win! The ones that let me protect the people I care about!" Rory yelled back angrily but with some understanding, "Look! Let's argue over the merits of fighting the good fight later. Right now I'd like to hear about your idea."

He growled for a moment but agreed that the robot's well being took priority over some personal debate.

"It's something I came across once while I was helping some friends kick demon ass. It's a spell that allows the caster to channel energy from Earth's ley lines to a person to help the healing process," Xander replied as he began taking out ingredients and placing them in the proper order for the spell.

"Don't you need to be a wizard or something to cast a spell?" Rory asked, sounding like he comprehended what the spell did but now how his nephew would be able to cast it.

"Most spells do, but there are a few that all you need is the right amount of concentration and knowledge." He replied as he began to flip through the pages of the book for what he was looking for.

"Well, you have one of the two at least." Rory muttered at just the right volume for his nephew to hear him.

"We need to get this spell going soon, though, since I don't think we have much time before G-Man notices something's amiss." Xander said as he picked up the first ingredient container and took it with the book towards the femme 'bot.

"'Notices something's amiss'?" Rory asked with a suspicious look on his face, "Didn't you ask him if you could borrow these things?"

"If you mean 'ask' as in speak with and 'borrow' as in with his knowledge, then I'd have to say… **no**." he replied, feeling slightly guilty about pilfering Giles' personal stash without the Watcher's knowledge.

Fortunately recalling how the gang were trying to shove him out of fighting the good fight and how his best friend since pre-school was going along with it quickly squashed that feeling of guilt.

"But don't worry. I've read enough of his dusty old books and been around when they've cast enough spells that this one will go off without a hitch." Xander said, doing his best to sound completely confident in his words, "Casting a spell is like preparing a meal: as long as you follow the directions, there's no way you can mess it up."

"Well if you say so." Rory said sounding convinced for the most part, though still possessing a trace of doubt in his voice.

Turning his attention completely to the robot, Xander could tell it had been trying to follow the conversation but he wasn't sure if it understood English or was just guessing at what was being said based on body language. Probably the latter, since he figured that if it knew English it would have tried to communicate with them somehow by now. In any case, he decided he'd at least try and explain what it was he would be trying to do just in case it could understand English but hadn't figured out how to reply in it yet.

"Look femme 'bot! I think I've figured out a way for you to get enough energy to get back on your feet quicker than relying on that generator." He said as he unscrewed the top on the jar he held, "It's a little out of the ordinary but I think it's the best chance you have for getting out of here anytime soon. So just stay still and try to put up with any unpleasantness."

With the explanation and cautionary warning given, he began to arrange ingredient number one like the book said by placing it in and around the damaged area. He checked every once and awhile to make sure that he wasn't putting the equivalent of salt in an open wound, but from what he could tell the first ingredient wasn't having any noticeable effect on the female robot. Once the contents had been emptied, he moved onto the second, third, fourth and then final ingredients and, aside from perhaps a little reluctance to let the white stuff get dumped on her wound, the alien robot didn't put up much of a fuss. Once he was satisfied that the necessary patterns had been drawn on the alien being he put himself the prescribed distance away from the target of the spell as prescribed by the book.

_Okay! Here goes __**EVERYTHING**_ He thought to himself as he raised his gaze to the first line of the spell.

Word for word, phrase for phrase, he spoke the spell, making sure that he said each word perfectly and with the proper tempo for each sentence. As he reached mid-spell he could sense a building of power beneath his feet and figured that by using the book to cast the spell, he was establishing a connection between him and the ley lines. He had to admit that it was something of a rush feeling all of it but he didn't let it ensnare him like it probably had so many magic users. He was only going to use this spell once and that was that!

As he neared the end of the spell, Xander could feel the power reach to burst from beneath his feet and got ready to use his willpower and his mind to direct the energy towards the femme 'bot. He'd have to take care to regulate the flow and rein it in when it looked like she was getting more than her systems could handle. Then, in a flash of light, energy leapt up from the ground beneath his feet surrounding him in a pillar of golden light.

Then it vanished and all was silent.

For a full minute all was silent.

"What the? I know I followed the directions perfectly." He said as he flipped through the book one page back then three pages forward, "It's in English so there's now way I could have misread something. Even though I have no idea what coadunation mean—"

That was as much as he got out before tendrils of energy that looked and acted like arcs of electricity shot up from the ground, ensnaring him in their grasp before unleashing a blast of energy right at the alien robot. The unexpected surge of energy caused a shockwave to explode outwards that completely obliterated the tent set up around the alien and sent his Uncle Rory flying a good twenty feet away. The only thing that probably saved the man from some serious injuries was that he landed in a pile of seat padding that he used in his restoration jobs. For one Xander Harris, though, things were a little more serious and would turn out to be a lot more permanent than anyone could have expected.

This came from the fact that while the spell was written out in a form of English that Xander could read easily enough there were a few words in it that were a bit beyond his vocabulary. Words like coadunation, transmogrification, configuration and antithesis might as well have been ancient Babylonian as far as he was concerned. If he had bothered to take a thesaurus with him or a dictionary, he never would have cast the spell in the first place. After all, while helping out a being in need was perfectly honorable and nice, it wasn't worth literally losing your humanity over.

However that is exactly what happened.

As soon as the area was cleared by the shockwave, arcs of electricity that had once been wrapped around his rigid body now sought out the strongest metals they could find in the immediate area. Piece by piece, ranging from silver dollar size to that of a manhole cover, metal flew from its previous home amongst the cars Rory Harris worked on and formed a funnel around the youngest Harris that reached high into the sky. If one were to look into the center of this funnel one would expect to see young Xander Harris still being bombarded by arcs of golden energy. However in the few seconds since the spell began to look for components amongst the surrounding cars, his body had already been broken down at the sub-atomic level. All that existed where Xander had once been was a collection of dusty balls of energy that occasionally came together to form a roughly humanoid shape.

Then, as though stretched by some special effects computer, the flight paths gained easily thirty feet in height and became as thick as two telephone poles. Then, as though being assembled by unseen hands, the pieces of metal that the spell had collected began to join together and form mechanical parts one after another. However they were unlike any part or component known to mankind, yet they became as one with such precision and complexity that one might think it a work of engineering art. Bit by bit, a form began to take shape from four different directions, all converging towards the center that was quickly located after a close look at the emerging construct. If Rory Harris had been awake, he would have immediately been able to identify certain similarities between the alien robot his nephew had persuaded him to aid and the new being that was taking shape. This one was stronger looking, whereas the other one was slimmer as though built for speed or agility but they were definitely built with noticeable similarities. It could easily be said by an observer that they were designed by the same person or at least built by the same company.

It took about fifteen minutes from the moment the spell leapt up to ensnare Xander to the moment it completed its work, both on him as well as on the intended target of the spell. While the former human's attention was pretty much centered on recovering his senses, anyone else who was around would now see no signs of damage whatsoever on the alien robot. The spell had indeed done what he had wanted it to do in that it provided the robot with enough energy to repair itself as well as facilitate the process by quite a bit. For Xander, though, he had just learned a rather permanent lesson about why it is important that you read **AND** understand what you were trying to do, especially when it came to magic. After all, anyone can just read a spell and implement ingredients, but unless one understood exactly what it is they're doing as well as what's going to happen, then they were literally playing Russian roulette with their lives.

As his grip on his senses finally solidified, Xander noticed a few things that had him scratching his head in shock. First was the fact that the ground seemed a lot farther down than he remembered it being. The second was that there was no longer a tent around the alien robot that looked to be back at one hundred percent. The third thing he noticed was that every time he scratched his head he heard the sound of metal scraping up against metal. That was weird. Bringing his hand down, he expected that some piece of metal or something got wrapped around his hand and was scraping against a hubcap that had probably landed on his head. However when his hand should have come into view, he instead looked down to see a mechanical hand come into his field of vision that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi flick. For a moment he thought that a pal of the alien robot had snuck behind him so he turned around only to see nothing and to once again be reminded that the ground seemed quite a bit farther down than he remembered.

Once again he tried to bring his pink skinned fleshy human hand into view but, once again, the only thing that appeared was the mechanical robot hand. For some reason his brain just couldn't come up with a reason why this was happening so he decided to look for a reflective surface in the hopes that he could get a better idea of what was going on. Looking around, he managed to spot a rather odd looking car that had its entire surface rendered so that it could perfectly reflect everything just like a mirror would. He had no idea why some idiot would want a car that was so reflective but it was convenient for him given the current situation. Moving over to get a better look, he lasted all of three seconds after seeing his reflection before proving that it was possible for alien robots to faint.

For that is what the spell he had cast had turned him into thus, as a forty foot alien robot, he fell face first into reflective car, smashing it completely.

His Uncle Rory would later admit that it was probably for the best that such a car never saw the outside of the lot.

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_**One Hour Later, Rory's Repair and Restoration**_

"Wakey! Wakey! Time to get up!" Came a female voice that pierced through the darkness of unconsciousness.

"Mmmmm…five more minutes please." He mumbled out as he tried to roll away from the person who was tapping him in the forehead in order to wake him up.

"Sorry! No can do! There are a few things I think we need to talk about and the sooner the better." The woman said but with an odd digitized quality to her voice.

He tried to roll away from her again so he could go back to the warm embrace of sleep but the sound of metal getting crushed and glass shattering filled his ears. This struck him as weird, since he was pretty sure his room didn't have anything that could make those sounds. He decided to open his eyes to see what was going on but, instead of the world being revealed to him like it normally was, it snapped into place with ultra high definition. This sent the first shudder of dread down his spine, since it rang a fairly unpleasant bell in his mind. The next was seeing the alien robot that had crash landed in his Uncle Rory's lot standing over him, looking none the worse for where and when he looked to where the damage had been before, his eyes did the strangest thing. They outlined the area in a green box and then zoomed in until it filled his field of vision then enhanced so as to make it look that his head was right up next it. This caused an even bigger shock for him as a side portion of his mind noted that every last bit of damage had been undone, causing the area to look as good as new. Trying to will this weird change of vision out of place, he closed his eyes and, once again, instead of a gradual or perceivable closing of the eyelids, the view before him snapped off.

_It's not what I think it is! It's impossible! That wasn't what the spell was supposed to do!_ He thought as he tried to deny what he had just experienced and what his memories were telling him of the moments before he fell unconscious.

"While I might not know much about spells and magic, I can safely say that what you remember did happen," said the femme 'bot, trying to sound understanding and honest.

"Huh? You know about magic?" He asked before realizing two more important facts, "You can speak English **and** read my mind?"

"Hahahahaha. Well, in order the answers would be: yes I know about magic, yes and yes. That's how I learned your language and about magic." She replied with what he thought was a smile, "Apparently, thanks to the spell, we share a special connection of sorts between our minds. Also, a fair bit of your memories were transferred over as well so I know quite a bit about you, Alexander LaVelle Harris."

This caused him to become distinctly embarrassed, since some of what was in his head could get him into serious trouble with a member of the opposite sex.

"Don't worry! I haven't looked at everything I received from you yet and what I have seen tells me you're a good guy." She said, trying to reassure him that she wasn't going to do the typical woman thing when a female finds out about the improper thoughts of a man, "In any case, we need to get going soon. The others will have already touched down and will probably be waiting for me at the original landing co-ordinates."

"Huh? We?" He asked, not able to figure out how he got roped into going anywhere with her.

"Of course. My Commander, Optimus Prime, will at least want to meet you. Also, you'll probably need at least some help getting used to the new you." She explained, speaking with great respect towards her Commander, "It's not too hard, but you'll probably get used to it quicker if you have someone telling you how to transform yourself."

"But this might not be permanent!" Xander exclaimed, not liking anything that implied he might stuck in his current state for the rest of eternity.

"Maybe. But considering that you didn't fully understand the spell or expect things to turn out this way, it'd probably be a good thing to at least learn the basics." She pointed out, making it clear that she was volunteering to be the person to teach him.

As much as he wanted to deny the truth of what she was saying, he could not lie about how well he knew the spell or about what happened after it had been cast. He had known going in that there were a few words that he didn't know the meaning of even, even though he could pronounce them easily enough. He had just come to believe that because he could understand most of the spell, that a few big words wouldn't make a difference. Now, though, it seemed that not only were those big words important but they completely turned the true purpose of the spell on its head. He'd have to ask Giles…

_Ask Giles! Like this?!_ He thought as he sat up and looked down at his new form and imagined what would most likely happen if the gang saw him as he was now.

Buffy would probably come at him with an axe and the rest would also come at him with all the weapons they had. He was just glad that the rocket launcher that he'd stolen from the military base only had one shot to it, otherwise he had no doubt he'd have the launcher aimed at him in front of the school. Maybe it would be a good idea to take some time away from the gang and learn how to use his new body a little bit better. It would give him time to formulate the proper way to break the news to the gang and especially to Giles. He had no doubt that the Watcher would be less than pleased to learn his personal stash had been pilfered behind his back.

_It was a basic rule among men: you don't touch another guy's tools._ Xander thought before turning to the alien robot and saying "I guess that would be the smart thing to do. By the way, what's your name?"

"My friends call me Arcee." She replied and extended a hand to help him up onto his feet.

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	25. A Bossy Slayer

"A Bossy Slayer" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

(Metal Gear video game series/BtVS)

email: ryley[underscorebreen[athotmail[dotcom

Disclaimer: This is to state that I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown in this drabble/short. They are the rightful property of their creators and associated companies. I am making no money off of this whatsoever so lock the doors on the cells your lawyers are in because sending them after me would be a waste of time and money. I write this for the enjoyment of the readers and of myself.

Note: While it is true that the majority of the drabbles center around Xander as the main character I do on occasion get an idea for a plot that centers on another character. In this case the character is Buffy and the source of this idea was the MGS/BtVS crossover by SirWill entitled 'Metal Gear Sunnydale: Snake's Beginnings'. It intrigued me how SirWill introduced the Metal Gear qualities into BtVS and so I decided to take a stab at it myself. While I will take some aspects of SirWill's story and use it myself but I will do my best to make sure that the story is original enough so I won't be accused of being a copycat.

I will be taking some liberties with timeline issues and events but this is only in order to make the story run smoother. One example of this is that in the BtVS timeline this will take place early season 1 but in the Metal Gear universe it will take place in between Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The conflict comes from the fact that Metal Gear came to North America in 1988 and the sequel was produced about two years later. As all Buffy fans know the television series didn't kick off until March of 1997 so for the purposes of the drabble/short I've decided to move the years for the two Metal Gear games roughly a decade ahead more or less. There will be other changes but I hope that you the readers will show some tolerance and compassion as you read this by focusing on the story being told rather than the facts being used.

Now on with the drabble/short…

_A Bossy Slayer_

_**United States of America, Maryland, A Top Secret Government Facility**_

_**September 30**__**th**__**, 1964**_

"So it has been confirmed then?" Asked voice number one, a male voice brimming with authority, from the head of the table.

"Yes. Operative Naked Snake, now to be called Big Boss, successfully managed to assassinate his mentor. The Joy is dead," Replied another male voice that sounded like it lived to rattle off facts and bits of information.

"Good. She was useful during the war but her usefulness is passed along with her team. If she was not good enough to defeat her own student, someone she trained personally, then that could only mean she was no longer the soldier she once was," said the authoritative voice with satisfaction. "Still, she may still have at least one use left."

"You are referring to the project to clone the perfect solider? Has her defeat at the hands of Big Boss not already proven that she is **not** the perfect soldier?" Asked a woman's voice that was colder than the last ice age by leaps and bounds, "Would not Big Boss be the more appropriate choice for the project?"

"Yes, he is the more appropriate choice for the cloning project, however if the information we received from the project head is accurate, then there are still some flaws in the Super Baby method that still need to be ironed out. This can only be done through empirical testing and through preliminary trial runs." Mr. Authority replied with his choice clearly stated in his voice, "If we use the eggs and other genetic material we extracted from the boss shortly after the liberation of France that are currently frozen, we can be sure that when it is time to clone Big Boss, there will be no flaws in the process."

"I see. Very well. We will use the genetic material and eggs procured from The Boss during her time convalescing after giving birth to Major Ocelot to perfect the Super Baby for the Les Enfants Terrible project." Ms. Ice conceded with a nod.

"So it is decided, so shall it be," stated Mr. Authority, verbally slamming the door on the debate. "If that is all that needs to be discussed, then I hereby bring this meeting of the Wiseman's Committee to a close."

Thus a string of fate began its journey into the future, but it is doubtful that even these people, these members of the Wiseman's Committee who ruled America from the shadows, had any idea how this one step would affect how the future would unfold. Would it be to their benefit? Or would it bring about their end? No being in the universe, save the Almighty, knew the answer but it would sure be interesting that was for certain.

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_**June 11**__**th**__**, 1971, An Underground Lab in the Rocky Mountains, Evening**_

"What are the latest test results for the Little Boss trials?" Asked Dr. Darren Peterson from his position behind the desk reserved for the head of the facility.

"All fetus' miscarried in the surrogate mother's body. However after thorough examination of the remains, I believe we have discovered the reasons why the fetus did not make it to birth," replied Peterson's right hand man, Dr. Andrew Sanderson, who stood in front of the desk clad in a white lab coat. "With this knowledge, I believe that we will have a much better chance of producing a viable clone when the time comes to employ Big Boss' DNA."

"Good, for it would be trouble for us if we failed to accomplish the goals set out for us by our employers in the defense department." Peterson said as he took the file Sanderson passed him and began to skim through its contents, "They are quite insistent on producing an army of elite soldiers with each member of this group capable of dispatching an entire army on their own. They would be most displeased with us if we failed to meet the set objective."

Indeed it was all too well known by every scientist and soldier stationed at the facility just how important it was to succeed in the appointed task. Each of them had been pulled from their respective places in the world and charged with producing a viable clone of the most skilled soldier seen in this century. Les Enfants Terrible had been officially founded three years ago and had been pressed hard by those in power to maintain a certain rate of progress no matter what. No matter what evidence was produced or argument given, the ones providing the backing refused to acknowledge that scientific achievement did not operate on a set timetable. It was a living thing that could surge ahead by leaps and bounds for a few years, only to fall silent all of a sudden to become dormant for decades. However, twice before since the project's founding in nineteen sixty-eight, the progress had almost come to a complete standstill and twice before that **monster** came to **motivate** them to pick up the pace. That damn man, with his long hair and mustache, would come in and act like your typical messenger boy, but then he would use those three revolvers of his to scare everyone present out of their minds. Six people in total had been shot dead from those two visits as an object lesson of what the rest of them could expect if they didn't perform as expected. Needless to say, just about everyone was doing their best to make sure that there would never be a need for a third visit by that Russian cowboy.

"Understood. However there is still enough genetic material from the Little Boss trials for one more attempt. What should we do with it?" Sanderson asked with a little bit of interest that didn't sound all that scientific.

"Put it back into storage for the time being. One more attempt will not make that much of a difference in this project and I believe it is about time that we begin our efforts to produce a viable replica of Big Boss." Darren replied half-heartedly as he turned his seat halfway away from his assistant, "Even with the progress we've made so far it will probably take more than one try to get it right and succeed in achieving our objective. We need to get started as soon as possible."

"Of course." Sanderson said as he turned to exit the office and return to working on the project, "It seems such a shame though that we were unable to produce a viable copy of The Boss. If we could produce both the best female soldier in history and the best male soldier in history, then just think of the possibilities. What if they one day procreated with one another?"

"I'll admit that I too pondered that possibility, but it is unlikely that our backers will permit diverting even a small amount of resources to such an idea. In their minds, The Boss's genetic material had a use only to work the bugs out of the Super Baby method and nothing more." Peterson said with some regret at how things had to be, "To them, nothing less than the best will do and with The Boss being reduced to second place by Big Boss, it makes anything related to her utterly worthless."

"Very well. Good day, Dr. Peterson." Sanderson said continuing out the door to put the last living piece of Big Boss back on ice and to begin work on the true objective of Les Enfants Terrible.

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_**July 2**__**nd**__**, 1980**_

_**Los Angeles, California**_

_**White Memorial Medical Center, Noon**_

_I don't know why Mr. Summers keeps accusing me of botching the test results!_ Sanderson thought angrily as he reviewed the Summers family's file in preparation for the appointment in an hour, _If it wasn't for the fact that that kind woman Mrs. Summers is always present, I'd tell the jackass that he has about as much chance of getting Joyce pregnant as that prop skeleton over there!_

It had been one of the most frustrating cases he'd ever had the displeasure of handling and it was one that often had him asking why he chose to enter this field of medicine in the first place. Each time he asked that question, though, images sprang to the forefront of his mind to provide an answer causing him more often than not to seek out the bottle of whiskey he kept locked in the bottom drawer of his desk. It had been a little over five years since he had left that horrid project and still his dreams had been tormented by what had gone on there. In the beginning of Les Enfants Terrible, he had been thoroughly convinced that through the process they were developing they were paving the way to a means to defeat death itself. After all, the only reason why people died in this world was because their organs and body parts slowly decayed away with the passage of time. By creating perfect duplicates of the original organs, the other pieces could be transplanted from one to another, allowing the original to live indefinitely. He had even pondered the possibility that perhaps the duplicate would awaken with their memories intact, ranging from the earliest memories right up until the moment the genetic sample was taken. With those two possibilities in mind, he had dived into his work with a vengeance and where his knowledge had fallen short, the project leader was able to help him out.

However as the months and eventually years passed, signs began to appear in results they got from the first few clones that God himself was thwarting their goals. For the most part, he was not a spiritual person but rather a man of science that chose to believe in what he could see, hear and understand. He believed that with enough research, enough experimentation, all of the world's mysteries could be explained from start to finish. It was this belief that carried him through those first few years, but during the last two before he chose to leave the project, he found himself wondering if there was some higher power in the universe. Again and again they had tried to give birth to a perfect clone of Big Boss, but each time the children that were born came with defects that either killed them within a year or shortened their lives considerably. With each failure, he would go back and look at the data to look for the reason why they had been thwarted, but everything looked perfect. His determination lasted another two tries before he could no longer justify remaining a participant in that horror show of science. Surprisingly enough there wasn't any deadly catch to his leaving, no 'accident' arranged to kill him within a year, just a confidentiality contract that he had to sign.

Although that might have more to do with the little piece of the puzzle he'd managed to sneak out with him when he walked out of the facility. It had been due his new mission in life, the one he had sworn to after the last clone died, to work as a doctor to help bring life into this world instead of trying to lengthen the amount of time those already living had on this planet. It had been a snap decision but not one that he regretted even years after he walked out on the project. It was his goal to find a suitable family, parents who, with every breath they took and every word they spoke, made it clear that they would cherish their children, to give The Boss a way to live on. So far none of the families that had come to him for help had quite met his standards, but he knew he would have to make up his mind sooner or later. While freezing the ovum and genetic material did allow for a longer stretch of viability, it was only a matter of time before the components would become completely unusable. If he had it calculated out right, he would have at best another three years to look for an acceptable pair of parents to bestow The Boss' legacy to before it became impossible.

"I don't know why you insist on insulting Dr. Sanderson so much, Hank." Came a familiar voice from the hallway outside his office, "I'm sure he's doing everything he can to help us with this problem. It's probably a lot harder to induce a pregnancy than you think."

_Is it that time already?_ He thought as he looked at the clock and indeed found that an hour had passed since his journey into the past first started.

"I want to believe that, honey, it's just that we've been trying so hard for the past three years to have a child and have nothing to show for it. There's no way that it should take this long for two healthy people like us to have a baby, especially with medical assistance from people like Dr. Sanderson." Hank said with the sound of his voice getting closer to the office door, "The only reason I can come up with for why nothing has worked so far with him is because somehow he's making mistakes. Whether they're on purpose or not, I don't know, but something has to be wrong with how he's doing things if we've got nothing to show for it."

_There is nothing wrong with my work but rather your plumbing, you asshole!_ He thought angry at the very idea that someone would accuse him of doing shoddy work either by accident or by design.

"Well what else is there for us to try?!" Joyce asked with a roar, obviously reaching her limits in terms of tolerating her husband's words, "We've tried it the natural way! We've tried just about every sort of medicine normal doctors can prescribe! Dr. Sanderson is our last hope for having a child! Are you just going to toss that away because it's too difficult!?"

It was almost too painful for him to hear the desperation in Mrs. Summers' voice, the longing for a child, and it was enough to quiet his anger towards Hank by quite bit. It was for people like her that he tried his hardest to pull of miracles where ordinary medicine could not accomplish anything. However, in this case, there was really little he could do besides continue recommending that Hank take the hormone supplements in the hope that they somehow managed to coax something useable out of his system. After all, pregnancy was a two person job and he knew for a fact that there was nothing wrong with Joyce physically that would keep her from giving birth. In the end it was Hank who wasn't putting in his contribution to the process and every treatment he'd tried since the pair came to him had been centered around trying to squeeze just enough of the right stuff out to induce a pregnancy. So far, though, it was like trying to get water from a rock, but that didn't mean he was going to give up just yet. He still had a few other avenues of treatment he could pursue and, if he could keep his temper in check where Hank Summers was concerned, he might just manage to get through to all of them.

"No. I want a child as much as you do and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to have one. It's just…" Hank said sounding gentler and more sincere than ever before, "I can't make sense of all the medical jargon he uses! I know he's trying to explain everything to us as simply as possible, but I'm an architect not a doctor. With everything he says so incomprehensible and us having nothing to show for it after so long, I just go a little crazy sometimes."

_A man who believes only in what he knows and gets angry when dealing with what he doesn't understand._ He thought to himself with a different tone after hearing this new side of Mr. Summers, _Where have I heard that before?_

"I know. But please try to be patient." Joyce said with a tender voice that was at odds with her earlier fury.

Hearing this hit him with an odd idea that had someone proposed it to him a week ago, he never would have even considered it. In this one conversation he had heard the fire of a warrior in Joyce's voice and in Hank's a tender, loving nature he had not thought the man capable of. It was then that he reconsidered the standards he had set when he first decided to be the facilitator of The Boss' legacy. Initially he had wanted nothing more than the most loving and supportive family he could find, a family that would keep the child from the horrors of war and allow her to grow up the way The Boss might have had Nazi Germany not brought about the Second World War. However, now he considered whether he would truly be doing what was best for the child by placing her in such a peaceful environment. If certain qualities of a person were indeed burned into their very DNA, then a child born of the genetic material of The Boss would possess the qualities of a soldier. Such a child would likely find a completely peaceful and loving environment as stifling as it was enjoyable. Perhaps what The Boss' offspring truly needed was a place that was equal parts conflict and harmony, such as what the Summers family possessed. While they did come into conflict with one another from time to time, they had also just displayed an ability to reconcile and show just how caring they could be.

_Looks like the fated day has finally arrived, Boss._ He thought before taking a brief glance upwards towards the heavens, _I hope you approve._

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_**Ten Months Later**_

_**Los Angeles, California**_

_**Beverly Gardens Park**_

_**2:15p.m**_

_She's healthy. She's shown no sign of any genetic abnormalities whatsoever._ Andrew Sanderson thought with a smile on his face brighter than the sun hanging over his head.

For the first time in what had to have been eight years, he felt like his soul was finally clean of all the blood that he himself had placed there through his foolish actions. It had been touch and go these past ten months with the Summers family, but as of this morning when he got the latest batch of genetic test results back he could safely say that one Elizabeth Anne Summers was as healthy as any other newborn baby in America. It had been one of his biggest concerns throughout the pregnancy that either the period of time it was frozen or the lack of sophisticated monitoring equipment would give rise to a miscarriage. However, aside from a few episodes of false labor, everything happened exactly as it should from beginning to end.

Except for how the fertilized embryo got there in the first place of course.

In that instance it was all him. That is himself, The Boss' egg and a sample of her DNA, to be precise.

Contrary to what an amateur might think, he did not take The Boss' genetic material and insert her DNA into an egg belonging to Joyce Summers. Instead, he took one of The Boss' own eggs and injected her own DNA into it in order to make sure it was one hundred percent Boss through and through. True, he had to infuse it with a little chemical cocktail in order to make sure that an embryo would develop, but in the end it had been successful. An embryo had developed and, over the course of nine months, had developed into a bouncing baby girl with the first signs of blonde hair growing on her head. The past month he had used some clever-sounding medical talk to persuade the Summers family to consent to a battery of tests 'just to be on the safe side'. He had gotten them back two days ago and had revealed the results to the Summers family three hours ago. The tests had been centered on genetics since he wanted to know if she'd have any trouble down the road, and if the results he received were to be believed, then little Eliza didn't have a thing to worry about, whether it was any predispositions to diseases or the specter of all cloning attempts that was rapid cell degeneration at a certain point in the future. The only thing he wasn't certain of was whether or not the time spent in Joyce Summers' body affected the Boss' DNA any. While his time as a member of the Les Enfants Terrible project had greatly increased his knowledge of genetics and cloning, there were still mysteries that defied modern science.

_Still, I doubt that the changes will be too severe and only someone who knew The Boss personally should be able to pick out the minute differences._ He thought as he reached for the burger in the McDonalds bag next to him.

"Dr. Andrew Sanderson?" Asked a voice he hadn't heard in almost a decade and caused his blood to run cold in an instant.

With fear instilled jerky movements, he looked to the right and found a man in his mid-to-late thirties with blonde hair that was just beginning to thin on his head. Along with an all too familiar mustache, he knew exactly who this man was and why he was here in the park. For a moment the urge to run like the devils of hell were after him cascaded through his body, but once his brain reminded him of two important facts an accepting calm came over him. He knew who this man worked for and if he was here, then there was no escaping his fate no matter what he did. All the exits were no doubt under guard and he wouldn't be at all surprised if three or more snipers had him in their sights at this very moment. In short, he was dead and just hadn't known of it yet. With that realization, all the anxiety drained out of him until all that was left was the stillness of the grave within him.

"Yes?" he said sounding almost robotic with the lack of emotion in his voice.

"I see you remember me and, if that is true, then you likely also know why I am here." The Russian Cowboy said with a friendly smile that never reached his eyes, "You removed something from your last place of work without permission, Dr. Sanderson. True, we didn't know it was you until three weeks ago, but those genetic tests you asked for sent up red flags all over the place."

In the space of three seconds, he used every curse word he had ever heard to berate himself mentally for his foolishness in sending out for genetic testing. At the time he had thought that there was no way they could connect it to him since he was the only one with The Boss' genetic material and, thus, there'd be nothing for them to do a comparison with. Now, though, he realized that the others on the project likely knew what The Boss' DNA looked like well enough to identify it without a sample to use for comparison. Add to that the fact that there were probably paper copies of the analysis done on the genetic samples and he had pretty much committed suicide the moment he chose to have genetic testing done.

"What are you going to do?" He asked, deciding that if he was going to die then he at least wanted to know all the consequences of his actions.

"Well, for you there is only one course of action, as I'm sure you know. My employers do not like loose ends, Dr. Sanderson, nor do they like taking what does not belong to them. However because of what you have accomplished with what you stole, I am inclined to show you some mercy by making it quick and painless." The Russian Cowboy stated in a tone that meant he was actually serious about the mercy part, "As for the baby…well we'll have to wait and see about that. Truth be told, both my employers and your former project comrades were surprised that you had managed to successfully employ what you had stolen. Depending on how she develops, she may be allowed to live."

_At least she will be safe._ He thought with some relief at the single bit of good news to come out of this final encounter_, Hopefully, God willing, she'll do her 'mother' proud and thus live to perhaps experience old age._

"Well, this has been a satisfactory chat, Dr. Sanderson." The Russian Cowboy said as he turned to walk away, "Oh, and give my regards to The Boss when you see her."

With that, the lethal gunslinger walked away and was soon lost in the crowd of civilians.

One minute later instant death penetrated his head in the form of a sniper's bullet sending him into an oblivion from which there was no return.

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_**January 7**__**th**__**, 1997**_

_**The Heart of Zanzibar Land**_

_**Office of Big Boss**_

_It's times like these I wish I was just a grunt again!_ Big Boss thought as he once again went through the tedious task of doing the paperwork necessary to bring his dream to life.

What made it even harder, though, was pushing through the difficulties he was forced to endure through his cybernetic limbs. While it was true that they were a few decades ahead of any other prosthetic he might have had to use, they still didn't come close to that of the 'original parts'. Every day he could feel the machines in his chest pumping and churning to keep him alive. Every day he used his prosthetic arm, its reaction to his mental commands were easily a full second behind what his original arm would have done. Oh, he had learned to adapt to the difficulties so that they didn't interfere with his objective, but just like the rising sun, they were always there when he looked. For what had to be the hundredth time, he cursed his 'son' for being so damn good but at the same time he couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride in Solid Snake's achievement. He had gone into the first Outer Haven an inexperienced rookie of FOXHOUND and come out of it the best soldier of the last two decades.

_I shouldn't have underestimated him when I sent him on the mission._ Big Boss thought as his mind went back to the time he was still masquerading as the head of FOXHOUND, _He is, after all, my 'son', so it should only be natural that he should possess the ability to make the impossible missions possible._

Unlike him, though, Solid Snake had not achieved his final objective. He had failed to kill his mentor and leader before heading back home. It would be a mistake that would cost the FOXHOUND operative dearly when next they met.

He was about to indulge in a little imagining when the door to his office opened up and his ally for almost twenty years walked in with a file folder in hand and an odd look on his face. This was odd because, to his knowledge, Ocelot had been dispatched to head up the raid of a hidden lab that his sources had determined belonged to the Patriots. They had originally been tipped off about it through an examination of the records found at the lab where Les Enfants Terrible had been carried out. He had been so shocked by what he had found there, by what those **BASTARDS** had tried to do, that he had almost decided to burn the entire place down right then and there. Fortunately Ocelot had been able to persuade him that a thorough search should be carried out before demolishing the place, just in case. After all, if it was a lab belonging to the Patriots then there was a chance that those assholes might have left some crucial piece of information behind. While his men and the world might believe that he wanted to create Outer Haven in order to create a nation made by soldiers, for soldiers, his true objective was far grander. It was his ambition to build such an impressive army, such an impressive empire, that he could eventually challenge the Patriots themselves. Even thirty-three years after Operation Snake Eater, he still couldn't forgive those **bastards** for what they'd done to The Boss. The hatred born from that betrayal only grew with every subsequent discovery of their evil manipulations and he had committed himself to making sure that they were brought down.

_From the look on Shalashaska's face, though, I have a feeling I'm not going to be happy with his news._ He thought before setting aside his paperwork in order to give his relative ally his undivided attention.

"You find anything interesting at the lab, Ocelot?" he asked giving away nothing of what was going on inside his head.

"Interesting may be an understatement, Boss. The lab was used for genetic research just as we suspected and while the majority of the information we found there were just copies of Les Enfants Terrible I did come across something different." Ocelot replied, sounding like a ghost from the past had made an appearance, "Apparently they had another set of genetic material from another soldier that they used in their experiments. This set of genetic material was used to isolate and examine the flaws in the Super Baby method so that when the time came to use your set, it would be much more likely to succeed. Needless to say the failures born from the other set were not something one should see on a full stomach."

"Who did this genetic material come from?" He asked as his mind flew through faces of the past attempting to deduce the answer before it was given to him.

"It…it came from The Boss, from your mentor." Ocelot replied with reluctance that implied he wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing by replying truthfully, "Apparently they got it from her shortly after the liberation of France and had been keeping it frozen until Les Enfants Terrible was ready to begin."

Of all the people it could have been, of all the people he had been close to, it had to be the one who he still couldn't stop caring for and fighting for. With speed one would never expect for one his age he got to his feet, reached across the desk and snatched the folder from Ocelot's hand before the Russian gunslinger could do anything. Opening up the folder, he began to skim through the contents one after another, comparing what he saw with his memories of the past. While there were certain names and places that he didn't recognize, there was enough information he was familiar with that he was able to verify some of the information completely. Things like locations where The Boss had been and names of scientists that had been a part of Les Enfants Terrible he was able to identify right away. Other places he was less familiar with took only a moment to compare with information stored on his computer before he was able to confirm their validity. In the end, he was unable to come up with a single reason not to believe the accuracy of the facts in the file nor what they implied. Somehow, right after The Boss gave birth to her son on the battlefield, the Patriots had extracted a large number of her eggs and genetic material for use in genetic experiments. Those experiments had begun in 1968 and had come to an end just before 1972, when Les Enfants Terrible began going down the path that would eventually give birth to David, Cameron and George. However there was no mention in the file as to whether any of the experiments with The Boss' genetic material were successful or not. After all, from the way that Ocelot phrased his statement earlier, the man was silently implying that there were at least partial successes.

"What were the results of these **experiments**?" he asked, doing his best to keep his fury at the further desecration of The Boss' memory at bay.

"Seven of the ten clones produced from the experiments involving The Joy's material died within months of being conceived, most due to abnormalities in the vital organs," Ocelot replied with unusual discomfort, considering what the man was capable of. "Two of the others managed to survive two full years before their bodies underwent sudden and rapid cellular degeneration that killed them inside of three months."

"And the final clone?" He asked, knowing that Revolver Ocelot would have saved the most interesting for last.

"The final clone was not mentioned in the records specifically but was something I deduced when looking at the total amount of genetic material they had and the average amount used to create each clone. From this I managed to uncover that some of the genetic material was missing from the lab's cold storage units and that it would be just enough for the creation of a final clone." Ocelot replied, making it known how much effort he put into his investigation with the tone of his voice, "While there were no files indicating that, an investigation was conducted to find out what happened to it and I did find something interesting when I ran a search on the lead scientists of the project. A Doctor Andrew Sanderson was murdered by sniper bullet sixteen years ago and I've confirmed that he was definitely a part of the Les Enfants Terrible project. That would have given him access to the cold storage units and placed him beyond suspicion of theft until after it was noticed that the material was missing."

"What was the good doctor's profession prior to his untimely death?" Big Boss asked, knowing an assassination of a loose end when he heard one.

"He apparently specialized in aiding married couples who either had great difficulty producing a child on their own or were incapable of doing so without assistance from modern medicine." Ocelot replied promptly before a look of speculation crossed his face, "Considering what he stole from the lab and the profession he chose afterwards…"

"It is possible that he implanted what he stole into one of his patients" Big Boss said, finishing the sentence spoken by his relative ally. "Find all the families that Sanderson treated from the moment he began after leaving the project to the moment of his death. Look for those that successfully bore children and in particular girls with blonde hair."

"Are you sure its right to divert resources like this? There are already signs that the American CIA and DoD are aware of the growing arms build-up here." Ocelot inquired with some concern in his voice, "Are you willing to risk Outer Haven all for the sake of finding a clone of The Boss?"

"You already know the answer to that, Ocelot. Neither of us would likely be the people we are today if not for her." He replied, making it clear his decision was final in the matter, "Besides, most of the paperwork has been completed already. Now all that is needed is for the resources we purchased to pass through the gates of Zanzibar Land and everything will be ready."

"Very well. I will begin the search of Dr. Sanderon's records immediately and have an answer for you by the end of the week." Ocelot stated, finally conceding to his tentative ally's demand.

With that the two went their separate ways, but if Big Boss had placed a camera at just the right angle in his office, he would have seen a sinister smile blossom on Ocelot's face as he left.

What did it mean? How would it affect the future? No one could say for certain but given that it was Ocelot doing the smiling it couldn't be good.

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_**Sunnydale, California**_

_**Main Street**_

_**Two and a Half Weeks Later, Nighttime**_

_I wonder how many more times I can use the 'studying with Willow' excuse before Mom actually clues in that that's not actually what I'm doing._ Buffy thought as she walked down main street Sunnydale on her way to the first of many cemeteries her Watcher, Giles, wanted her to patrol.

While normally she would have tried to beg off patrolling, especially since they just got finished with that organ stealing demon and Sid the Dummy, Giles had looked so frazzled by nearly loosing his head that she took pity on him. Instead of trying her best to tilt the scales a bit more in favor of her normal life as Buffy Anne Summers, she was willing to partake of her Slayerness if it meant making things easier for Giles. Thus, as she walked out of the library with stakes hidden on her person and a couple of daggers hidden in her purse to slay the baddies that went boo in the night, she figured she'd focus mostly on the graveyards that usually had the highest level of activity first and then, if she had time afterwards, she'd give two or three of the smaller ones a once over. That should be enough to make the Brit Librarian happy for a little while and maybe it'd be enough to make him cut her some slack later on when she wanted to go on a date.

As she neared the first cemetery a feeling came over her like she was being watched but, for some reason, it felt different from when she knew a vamp was watching her. With them it felt like a predator was circling her, eagerly seeking an opening before charging in to attack. This feeling that was bugging her felt more like she was being watched by someone who was a comrade but not necessarily a friend. She could feel no open hostility from the person observing her but, at the same time, the intensity that she sensed was unnerving for her. Deciding to move things onto more familiar ground, she picked up the pace a little and entered the area with row upon row of headstones as well as crypts. This was her battleground, her home turf, so if the person watching her tried anything, she'd have the advantage rather than them.

For the next fifteen minutes she waited for her unseen observer to make a move, to act, but nothing happened. However so focused was she on what was behind her that she almost didn't see the group of vamps coming at her until they were just inside of close quarters combat range. From there the fighting started and she fell into a tempo that she had always had almost from the very moment she discovered she was different from every other girl. The vampires she was facing weren't anything special, the oldest one apparently being from the early eighties if his yucky, falling-apart-shirt was any hint, but there were enough of them that she had to stay on her toes. All through the battle, though, she could still feel that she was being watched from a distance but could not for the life of her figure out whether it was friend or foe. She was reasonably certain that the observer was human since her senses weren't picking up anything demonic, but that didn't necessarily make the situation any better. What her occasionally-used strategic mind also told her, though, that if the person or people watching her were enemies then they were getting a decent show of what she could do. If there was anything Giles pounded into her head day after day, it was that information about an enemy was vital to defeating it.

_So if I keep giving whoever's watchin' a free show, they might be a problem if they decide to make with the 'kill Buffy' trend later._ She thought as she ducked under a vamps kick before delivering a thrust kick of her own, _So I'd better use '__**it**__' and end this now before they pick up on too much of my moves._

'It' was a part of her she gained the day she first became a Slayer but, as the months passed, she came to believe that it was not a part of the Slayer essence itself. 'It' used guns, 'it' used bombs and 'it' used a form of close quarters combat she had never been taught by either Giles or Merrick. This thing wasn't some inner warrior _per se_, but when she drew on it, she found her moves became more precise, more efficient, allowing her to slay multiple vampires in less than twenty seconds. One might think that such a thing would be something she'd use in every battle but no one but her knew the cost of tapping into 'it'. By tapping into 'it', her mind was plagued by memories and images not her own. Memories of killing people, real people, not demons, sometimes in jungles but other times on beaches with people dying all around her. While they didn't really affect how her body moved, they shook her to the core and for at least a week afterwards she would have nightmares involving these memories again and again. Eventually they'd fade and be as though they never existed in the first place, but the moment she tapped into 'it' once more, they'd return forcing her to wait another week before being rid of them. That was why she was so reluctant to tap into 'it' even during times when she truly needed it, but with an unknown person watching her every move and her not knowing the intentions of that person, she couldn't risk letting him or her see every move in her playbook.

Like the flicking of a switch, she tapped into 'it' and immediately her fighting style changed, much to the shock of the vampires fighting her. Gone were the moves drawn from several Asian martial arts and in their place were moves centered on defeating an enemy quickly as well as efficiently. Attacks to the joints, attacks that broke bone and attacks that brought the enemy to the ground in the blink of an eye became the dominant force in her fighting style. She didn't even waste time trying to play the vamps against one another before staking them. Instead the moment that an opening showed itself where she could end it in one move, she went for it slamming a stake into a dead heart or pulling a dagger from her purse for decapitation. In less than forty seconds the group of ten vampires had been reduced to numerous piles of ash on the grass of the cemetery to be blown away by the wind. She could sense that the person or persons were still observing her but hopefully, by ending the battle as quickly as she had, they wouldn't have learned anything too useful about her.

_Still better cut my patrol short and head back to Giles._ She thought as she locked 'it' back into the section of her mind where 'it' would not bother her, _If there's some new player in town with enough brain cells to actually watch me before fighting me, then I have to find out who they are before the hitting starts. _

Tucking her weapons back into their concealed spots on her person, she swiftly headed for the nearest exit without actually breaking into a run or even a jog. As she sensed herself leaving the field of vision of whoever was observing her, she felt an odd sense of nostalgia come over her. It wasn't particularly strong, more like a faint scent that is barely perceivable even to Slayer senses, but it seemed so out of place, considering what was going on, that she stopped to look back in the direction where her observer/s had been. She saw nothing, no clue as to who it had been, but the oddness of what she just experienced in terms of the silent observation and the feeling of nostalgia worried her a bit. Enemies that confronted her directly usually fell into the category of either stupid or insanely powerful, with sometimes both being the case. Those types of enemies, though, were usually one trick ponies and once Giles told her the trick to beating them, they tended to get dead real quick. The enemies that stayed hidden, took peeks at her from afar and then attacked her when they were ready and she was not however were the ones she really had to watch out for.

_Looks like the Master has some competition now._ She thought with mock happiness since she knew that this would likely mean her fighting a battle on two fronts.

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_**Atop a Roof With a Perfect View of the Cemetery, Same Time**_

"Was that--?" Ocelot asked with surprise at the events that just took place before his very eyes.

"C.Q.C in its purest form. Not that watered down crap they teach to the U.S Special Forces these days." Big Boss answered with a hint of nostalgia in his voice, "It looks like this girl is a veritable treasure, eh, Ocelot?"

"Indeed. When I discovered her existence, I anticipated nothing more than a physical copy of The Joy, but that wouldn't account for her knowing pure C.Q.C like that." Shalashaska replied, recovering from his earlier surprise in order to examine this development more carefully, "Also, what were the things she killed?"

"I believe you know as well as I do what they were Ocelot. Vampires." He replied as he recalled past encounters with beings that fit the nosfurato M.O.

"Vampires!? Ridiculous!" Shalashaska blurted out in denial of the idea despite what he had just witnessed.

"It would appear that vampires are not the things of horror stories we thought they were, my friend." He said as his mind whirred to figure out what it all meant, "Eliza showed extreme skill in dispatching them even before she used C.Q.C to finish the last ones off. That implies that she's been instructed in how to kill them, trained by someone with detailed knowledge of these creatures and their attributes. Get in contact with your sources in the area. I want to know everything about who taught The Joy's daughter how to fight the undead."

"I'll get right on it." Ocelot said before turning away and heading for the ladder they'd used to get on the roof in the first place.

He waited until he was certain Adamska was gone before he let down the face he showed everyone and once more took on the face of an old soldier named Jack. It was a side of himself that he almost never let out anymore because he couldn't afford to be anyone other than Big Boss to them. It was Big Boss they respected, a soldier without peer who could still crush an opponent despite his advanced years, and it was Big Boss that they followed. They would never follow a man still haunted by the people he'd killed or the mentor he could never truly surpass, even if she had been dead for decades. Such a man would be perceived as mortal and weak. To control and lead the forces he was assembling in Zanzibar Land, they had to see him as the legend he was and like most legends words like 'unbeatable' or 'unkillable' often got mixed in. That was why the only time he took the mask off was when he was sure he was alone or when he something managed to pierce his defenses to strike at the core of who he was. This incident, setting eyes on The Boss' daughter and watching her employ C.Q.C, could be considered a combination of those two sets of circumstances. For in seeing a young woman who so reminded him of The Joy, 'Jack' was brought back to the surface from his deep slumber within the darkness of Big Boss' mind. Seeing her employ a style of hand to hand combat that almost no one knew how to perform in its original form met the specifications of the latter scenario as well.

_She's shorter than I remember The Boss being but that could be explained by the surrogate mother's influence._ He thought as he recalled what he'd seen through his night vision goggles, _No she's a copy of The Joy, alright. The question now, though, is what do I do with this information._

His first instinct was to approach her with an offer to train her and bring her closer to her 'mother's' level of combat expertise. The young woman could certainly use it if she was fighting vampires on a regular basis. He knew a few of the soldiers that had agreed to side with him in Zanzibar Land would be perfect instructors for her and were sufficiently loyal to him that he could trust them with the job. Aside from that, there wasn't a whole lot he could do until he knew more about how she could do what she did and who was backing her at the moment. He knew that there was no way that genetics could explain her C.Q.C and martial arts skills so that only left an outside source instructing her. In order to reach that level of efficiency at such a young age, though, the girl would have to have begun learning at a fairly young age. Six or seven would be his guess, unless she'd undergone some sort of accelerated learning procedure, but those were often brutal in both mind as well as body, leaving only a select few standing afterwards. While it was true he couldn't see much detail from his vantage point, he'd not seen any of the classic signs of a young woman who'd been put through the wringer from an early age.

_No, she carries herself more like a warrior than a beaten down soldier._ He thought replaying what he'd seen minutes ago in his mind, _Heh! You're an interesting mystery, Eliza. I look forward to unraveling it._

With that thought in mind, he turned and headed for the ladder that Ocelot had used minutes ago but with a certain annoyance since his cybernetics made ladders a pain to use.

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_**Two Weeks Later, A Rented Estate on the Outside of Town, Noon**_

"What have you found out for me, Ocelot?" Big Boss asked from behind the desk in the estate's library.

"Something that I think you'll find both interesting and disturbing, Boss. According to the information I managed to acquire, you were right that vampires are real but it's not just them that go bump in the night." Shalashaska replied, looking a bit put out himself, "Apparently every mythological monster or demon the world's ever known exists for real in some part of the world, along with a few others I've never seen or heard of before. It's been like this for thousands of years apparently with various governments, societies and organizations doing their best to keep this fact of life from going public. Just about every nation on the planet has a division of their own military set aside to deal with the unusual and the strange. I've even heard rumors that the Unite Nations has one called Jericho."

While it was without a doubt shocking that something so widespread could be kept from people of the world, he knew it could be done because the Patriots were doing it every single day. That every nation on the planet had at least something set aside in their armed forces for dealing with these demons was not much of a surprise either, since they'd have to be stupid not to do something about the monsters. Still, all this was mere context and background for the answer he really wanted. Adamska knew what he really wanted.

"Where does Ms. Summers fit into all of this?" He asked with some firmness to let Ocelot know to stop beating around the bush.

"That…is the disturbing part. According to my contact, she's a Slayer." Ocelot replied sounding almost angry about this part of the debriefing.

"A Slayer?" he asked prodding his ally to continue.

"A Slayer is apparently a young woman, always in her mid to late teens, who has been chosen by some higher power to stand against these demons. The Slayer line has existed since before recorded history and has been responsible in some way for averting apocalypse after apocalypse." Ocelot explained, not liking where he was heading with his explanation, "However there is only ever one at a time, one per generation if the stories are true, and they are always posted in the areas of greatest danger. These areas are demonic or supernatural hot zones where dangerous levels of evil gather and need to be dealt with before they get any larger."

Now this bit of information had him stunned.

A line of warriors stretching back to the beginning of time defending the world from paranormal evil unflinchingly even knowing the danger they face. It saddened him, though, that they were all selected so young and it bothered him that whoever 'called' them couldn't wait until their chosen ones were older before dragging them into the dark. Still, if Ocelot's sources were accurate, this sisterhood of warriors was owed a sizeable debt by every living person on this planet many times over. They were also good at what they did if they went into hell on Earth willingly and managed to pull through despite the threats being all around them. If that was the case, though, then what was bothering Shalashaska so much?

"What's the bad news, Adamska? From the way you tell it, these ladies are heroes to the whole planet." He said, wanting the mustached man in front of him to just spit out whatever was getting him worked up.

"The bad news Boss is that Slayers don't exactly have a long life expectancy once they've been called. From what little I've been able to dig up in the past two weeks, most Slayers are considered gifted if they manage to make it to their eighteenth birthday. Only four in the entire history of the Slayer line have managed to stay alive to see their twentieth birthday." Ocelot replied, this time there was no mistaking the man's outrage at this face.

A feeling that was quickly mirrored by him as he struggled to comprehend that The Boss' daughter might at best have another two or three years to live before her Calling claimed her life. Who the hell was supporting these girls!? If the death rate of these Slayers was so high then why wasn't something done about it!? If he had been in charge of a unit with those kinds of stats, he'd immediately put someone to work to find out what the hell was causing his soldiers to die so quickly and put a stop to it! With this rolling around in his head there was but a single question burning in his mind that he wanted answered right then and there.

"Who are they Ocelot? Who are the people that are allowing such…such…**blatant** negligence to happen?!" Big Boss asked, looking like he wanted nothing more than to drop a nuke on those people right then and there.

"They're called the Watcher's Council and they've been in control of the Slayer line in some form for centuries, if not millennia. Currently they're based out of Great Britain with safe houses and installations worldwide, with operatives in just about all the major world governments. While there are some who'd debate their claim that they are the elite amongst organizations that deal with the paranormal, they certainly have a great deal of influence." Adamska replied, sharing his comrade's displeasure at the information, "What's worse, though, is their practices with potential Slayers!"

"Explain!" Was all he could get out amidst his fury at this Illuminati organization that held the lives of your woman with such complacency.

"Apparently aside from using their worldwide network to monitor demonic activity, they also use it to locate girls with the potential to one day become the next active Slayer. Once such potentials are found, they're taken from their parents, sometimes with lies and sometimes by force, and essentially brainwashed to become the perfect, obedient chosen warrior," Revolver Ocelot explained, showing that even he had limits as to how far he'd go in condoning certain actions. "They are kept cut off from the rest of society for the most part, except for aspects that have some value in their training. No friends, no contact with their family and their entire day-to-day schedule oriented on preparing themselves for the possibility that they will be Called one day. The only pleasant part of it all is that if they make it to age twenty-two without being Called, they are fully provided for and sometimes offered positions within the Council."

The rage within him was threatening to burn him alive from the inside out. These **Watchers** were no better than the Patriots! Using up hundreds of young warriors, depriving them of the very things that make life worth living and then letting them die without losing one wink of sleep over it! It was inexcusable! Without even taking time to consider everything, he made a conscious decision that would change everything that followed.

"Begin gathering every scrap of information you can about this Watcher's Council! I want to know where each installation is, I want a list of who the members are and a complete work up done on their offensive/defensive capabilities." He declared in a way that could be nothing other than a direct order, "Don't stop until you know more about this Council than they do!"

"What are you planning to do Boss?" Ocelot asked with surprise and a little bit of concern.

"What does it sound like? I'm planning to either burn the entire organization to the ground or absorb it into Outer Haven completely." He said with an ice cold voice that almost made Adamska shiver.

"But what about Zanzibar Land?" Ocelot asked with some concern, "We're only a little over a year from completion and the intelligence agencies around the world are already beginning to notice our movements. Can we really afford to divert our resources like this?"

"As the old saying goes, Ocelot, 'you have to spend money to make money'." He replied with a firm glare from his one good eye, "While it will delay the completion of Zanzibar Land by quite a bit, if we successfully absorb the Watcher's Council then we will gain an international network of paranormal intelligence operatives. Considering how widespread this supernatural threat is, I'd say it's a fair trade off."

"Indeed. What about Eliza though? How will she fit into all of this?" Shalashaska asked after nodding in agreement of The Boss' plan.

"She will be the cornerstone of the operation. After all, how can I leave her out of a mission that will have such a profound effect on her life?" He asked in reply to his comrade's question.

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_**Three Weeks After the Season 1 Finale**_

_**The Streets of Los Angeles, California**_

_Who am I?_ Buffy thought as she plodded down the sunlit streets of Los Angeles with her thoughts almost entirely focused inwards.

It was a question she'd been asked herself almost every day since Xander had brought her back from the land of the dead. It wasn't a question brought about by the brush with her own mortality the way most people would think, but rather what she experienced while she was dead. Even twenty-one days later she remembered the flower-filled clearing near the lake. Even after numerous tries to suppress everything, she still remembered the woman in the grey and white combat outfit standing ten feet in front of her, staring at her. More than that, though, was what she discovered after defeating the Master and being given time by her friends to cope with everything. She now knew things she had not known before and could never have come across during her decade and a half of life. She knew weapons specifications, she knew combat tactics and now she had names to go with every face that had shown up in her nightmares after tapping into '**it**'.

That last bit was something she could really have done without.

It had been all of the confusion she had felt that had prompted her to agree to spend time with her father, even though the two of them were not on the best of terms since his last visit. He'd taken her back to L.A and taken her to all the places where the good times had taken place before he and her Mom had divorced. No doubt he was trying to butter her up or at least make amends for what had happened last time. Normally she would have confronted him on it but, after everything that had happened, she had just put on the face he probably expected her to have while keeping the truth hidden inside.

Today, though, she had felt so suffocated by his efforts to rebuild burnt bridges that she'd managed to convince him to give her some alone time. She'd said that she wanted to look up some of her old friends and hang out with them but the truth of the matter was that she needed to deal with some of the mess that had built up in her mind. So, for the past few hours, she had been going through the information that had taken up residence in her mind without her permission. Most of it was military information, the sort of things that experienced solo operatives committed to memory, along with a few mission details mixed in for variety. The thing was that most of the information was at least thirty years out of date, if not more. Granted, she didn't exactly know a whole lot about the military of today, but some discreet use of a computer had helped her match what she now knew with recorded facts. She hadn't delved any deeper than most normal people would due to certain issues like National Security and her distinct lack of hacker abilities, but it had been enough to confuse her even more. Why would she suddenly have such detailed info about being a soldier and why was it so out of date?

_It all comes back to that woman from when I was dead! _She thought angrily, since she was certain that if she just knew who that serious looking woman was everything'd fall into place.

However, no matter how much she looked into it at the local library or online, she could find no one who had a face that matched the woman from the other side. That pretty much brought her to where she was right at that moment, which was walking almost on auto-pilot towards MacArthur Park so she could think in peace. It hadn't been a place she'd gone to all that often with her friends back when she had been going to Hemery High School, but she did remember how peaceful it had felt to be there. Surrounded more by nature than by concrete and glass, it had touched a part of her deep inside making her feel like she could be happy there.

It took five minutes but eventually she was arrived at a park bench that she recalled her mother sitting in when she was younger. She only had a vague impression of what had happened during that visit, but she knew she'd been happy then and almost completely carefree. Sitting down, she took in the almost empty park and all that it contained, trying to soak in the peace the place embodied for her so she could continue to examine the facts in her head unimpeded.

This lasted for about thirty minutes before she heard the sounds of walking feet coming her way as well as something…oddly mechanical sounding. It wasn't a sound most people would be able to hear and only her Slayer enhanced senses allowed her the sensitivity to pick it up as clearly as she was. When she tried to place the sound, all she could come up with was a complex remote controlled toy car or robot, but that didn't quite cover it either. It sounded far too complex for that but it was the closest comparison she could make that made any sense. Despite this puzzle, she chose to ignore it in favor of staying focused on her own issues since the last thing she needed was to have another mystery on her hands. However when the mechanical sound came to a stop less than three feet from her and a shadow blocked out part of the sun, it looked like the universe wasn't willing to give her a choice in the matter. With a sigh she looked up at the person who'd decided to interrupt her private time and was left with eyes like dinner plates by what she saw.

Standing before her in a suit and trenchcoat was a man who looked to be in his early to mid-seventies with a beard around his mouth and an eye patch over his right eye. Despite his age, the man looked like he could beat someone half his age easily in a one on one fight. However, what had her mind frozen in shock though was that she **knew** him, she knew his name, because it was one of the faces from her nightmares. It was a turn of events that she'd never thought was possible but standing right in front of her was a link to '**it**' as well as the knowledge she'd received from her near death experience. To this she could only say one thing, one word, and it was enough to make the man in front of her just as shocked as she was.

"Jack?" She asked with her mind supplying the man's name along with an emotion she didn't know the source of.

For what seemed like an eternity, the two of them looked at each other with unmitigated disbelief at what had just been presented before them. Standing up in front of him, she couldn't shake the feeling that she should be able to look him in the eyes instead of barely coming eye level with his chest. However, with an adjustment in the positioning of her head, she looked up into that one blue eye and in it she saw many of the emotions that were going through her body at that very moment. Eventually, though, she managed to get a firm enough grip on her emotions that she felt she might be able to have a decent conversation with the man without sounding like she belonged in a padded room.

"Tell me about her." She said, knowing instinctively that Jack would know she was referring to the woman she'd met on the other side.

With a look of nostalgia on his face, Jack sat down on the bench next to her and, after taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he looked ready to tell her what she wanted to know.

"I never knew her real name, but to me she was simply The Boss. She was my mentor and taught me everything I knew about being a soldier." He said with a tone that spoke of great respect for the woman, "For ten years we worked together on missions and, between the two of us, we created an entirely new form of hand-to-hand combat that's used by the U.S military to this very day. She was probably the single most important person in my life and the person who made me who I am today."

Jack went on to tell her about The Boss, some of the missions they'd gone on together as well as some hang out times they'd had, and through it all she knew he was giving her the edited version. It wasn't that she was suspicious of him or that she consciously thought he was trying to deceive her, but rather that at certain points in his tale he skipped over facts that she knew should have been there. Not that she knew what those facts were, of course, but like a book that has a page torn out of it, she knew that there was something between point A and point C that he wasn't telling her. By the end of his Reader's Digest version of The Boss' life, she found that she too could respect the woman whose face she had only seen in the realm between the living and the dead. The Boss was a woman who was a professional soldier, a hero to her country, and someone who embraced her calling as her purpose rather than a bothersome burden. She wished she could be like that with her Calling as the Slayer, but the problem was that The Boss had probably chosen to be a soldier whereas she had gotten drafted by fate for her job.

While it was true that she probably would have said 'thanks but no thanks' if she'd been asked, the act of actually giving her a choice that she would have appreciated. Still, perhaps The Boss hadn't had as much of a choice as one might have thought, considering the times she lived in and the kind of person she was. After all, while a person could be given many choices indeed, their own personality and beliefs trimmed the number of choices down to a couple. She guessed it was that whole nature versus nurture thing, where people couldn't really decide if it was your genes that determined what you'd be or your environment. For The Boss, perhaps, her own nature and personality made becoming a soldier the only choice she had given the times she was living in.

_Am I any different?_ Buffy asked when she thought about her Calling as the Slayer.

She'd like to say that she was, in fact that was what the majority of the voices in her head were screaming out, but then there was this one voice that cut through them all. Not by volume, but rather by conviction and determination. While she might not have chosen to become the Slayer, that was what she was now and there was no going back to that blissfully ignorant Queen of Hemery High School person she'd been. She was sure that if a spell or a potion existed out there that could make her **NOT** be the Slayer, then demons would have found it years ago. So, in a way, her mystical 'genes' as the Slayer not only made her physically capable of being the Slayer, but she knew all too well the compulsion to kick demon ass when she saw one. Maybe she was in a similar position as The Boss, possessing all the qualities necessary to become a great soldier, with the only thing missing being acceptance of that kind of future. Maybe she could cut down on at least half, if not all, of her misery and grief if she just quit fighting her calling every step of the way. The part of her that remembered what came before yelled at the top of its lungs not to let something she didn't choose or particularly want determine her destiny. It went on to specify about how destiny didn't exist and that people made their own futures, with their own choices.

She really wished she could believe that but the evidence to the contrary was pretty convincing.

"The Boss might not have had a perfect life, she probably hated being a soldier starting out, but eventually she came to accept it. You know why?" Jack asked with an odd tone in his voice.

"Why?" She asked, wanting to know how to accept a life that had her dying in two or three years.

"She accepted it because she knew that if she didn't, she'd only be condemning herself to a painful death. On the battlefield, you have to give yourself totally over to the mission at hand because even the smallest of doubts or reluctance could mean death for a soldier." Jack replied in a voice that made it clear he knew what he was talking about, "It's the same for just about everyone in life, but for warriors, for soldiers, letting our doubts, fears and dislike of the job get the better of us means more than just getting fired. It means dying."

_Could he be right?_ Buffy thought as she delved into her memories and the memories of '**it**' to determine if the words Jack spoke were the truth or merely sweet sounding words.

She'd never really thought of it before, mostly 'cause she didn't like dwelling on her future as The Slayer, but she did find evidence of some truth to what the aged soldier had said. Despite the seriousness of certain situations back in Sunnydale, there had always been this undercurrent of resentment to her Calling, a desire to defy it so that she could go back to being normal, buzzing in her mind. While she had, at the time, not believed for one second, that something like that could make her a hair slower on the draw with a crossbow or dangerously sloppy with how she fought her death at the hands of the Master implied otherwise. When he'd caught her arrow, when he'd managed to maneuver around her so easily, he just assumed that it was his strength as a Master vampire that was responsible. However that was exposed as the lie it was since, not more than an hour or so later, she managed to thoroughly kick his ass, toss him through a skylight and onto the pointy end of a piece of table. The only thing different that she could see between the two incidents was that after being revived by Xander, after coming close to taking up permanent residence in the afterlife, was that the only thing in her mind had been to stop the Master from succeeding and killing him. Silent were the doubts she had and gone was the defiance she showed her Calling, usually falling apart like a staked vamp. At that precise moment and straight through to the next day, she had completely embraced her Calling.

The question she had to ask herself was: could she find the strength to truly embrace her Calling and leave the protests of the person she once was behind her?

"I can help you find that kind of strength, that resolve, if you will let me." Jack said honestly as well as sincerely, "It won't be easy but I think that if you make it, then you can finally have some say in what happens in your life rather than just letting yourself be swept about by the times."

It didn't even take her a full second to come to a decision.

"I'd like that."

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_**Watcher's Council Headquarters, Great Britain, The Main Meeting Room**_

_**A Little Over Two Years Later**_

"We've just lost contact with Andrews in Brasilia!" Cried out one of the many employees of the Watcher's Council who was trying in vain to rally the troops worldwide.

"Try the wet works team we have stationed Sao Paulo! If you can make contact, have them leave immediately for Andrews' last known location!" Travers ordered even though he had a gut feeling they'd find nothing of use when they arrived.

"Right away sir," said the harried man who immediately called up the number of the team in question.

Travers was not one to panic but the events of the past month had left him wondering if he was indeed bearing witness to the end of the Watcher's Council. For the past four weeks, numerous Council compounds or installations worldwide had either gone silent or come under attack from unknown forces. It had only been a handful at the beginning, leading them to believe that it was just one of the more organized demon organizations making an attempt at obliterating the only thing standing in the way of their conquering the world. It had happened a few times over the years since the Council had been originally founded, but none of them lasted for very long since they were swiftly dealt with. Believing that to be the case this time, he'd immediately sent out orders for their more skillful wet works teams to begin investigating the more likely demonic suspects. That had taken a turn for the worse almost from the very beginning since, after only three weeks of looking into the matter, each and every team had been eradicated by the demon organizations. The only clue as to why was a garbled transmission from the leader of one of the mercenary teams indicating that the demons had been waiting for them.

From there things had gone from bad to outright terrifying as the rate at which Council locations worldwide fell off the proverbial grid quadrupled. That had left him and his subordinates scrambling to get into contact with every Watcher's Council asset worldwide in order to initiate the Dante protocols. These protocols were emergency measures created three hundred years ago after a particularly strong demonic organization very nearly crippled the Council completely. Essentially it meant that all field personnel were to relocate to the main safe houses in their region, activate all of the mystical defenses ingrained therein and await further instructions. Each main safe house had in its basement a potent teleportation circle carved into the floor that would carry the field personnel directly to the basement within the very building he currently stood in. However that circle was only to be used if the protective wards and seals on the main safe houses were about to fail, since it was from them that the circle drew the power it needed for such a long distance teleportation. Still, if the protections on the building were about to fail, it was hardly worth it to waste energy trying to keep them up in the first place.

However, despite such trustworthy safeguards being in place, there had been no communication with any of the safe houses after the protective wards had gone up, nor had there been any arrivals in the basement that might have been able to provide useful information on the identity of this devastating force that was attacking them. There'd been a few suggestions to extend the olive branch to Slayer Summers, Slayer Kendra or Slayer Faith, but he'd shot those ideas down immediately. It'd be a cold day in hell before he'd consider forgiving those three turncoats! Even though it had been months since the three of them had sent in their letters of resignation, it still made him furious to think that those little upstarts had abandoned their Calling and turned their backs on the Council. He had even been in the process of organizing an operation to eliminate the three of them, but the current crisis had forced him to put that plan on the shelf for the time being. Once this great evil had been defeated, though, he would return his attention to terminating those renegades and putting the Slayer line back where it belonged: in his hands.

"Sir! Ms. Parker reports activation of the teleportation circles in the basement!" Another of his subordinates reported with a little hope in her eyes.

He had to admit the news improved his demeanor a bit as well, but he made sure that it didn't affect his disciplined frame of mind. While finally being able to question survivors of an attack would be most welcome, he knew it'd be only the first step in mounting a counterattack against their unknown enemy. If he was correct and the silent installations worldwide were either captured or destroyed, then it was a blow to the Council one way or another, win or lose. Nevertheless, time was of the essence.

"Tell her to escort the survivors up at once! I want to speak with them immediately and finally learn the name of this force that is attacking us." He ordered as he began to collect his thoughts and formulate a list of questions in his mind.

It took about fifteen minutes or so but eventually Ms. Parker walked through the door to the main meeting room with five people behind her that he didn't immediately recognize. They were dressed like Watchers but he couldn't quite place which region they were from or whom their commander had been. Odd, since there was always a yearly meeting of all of the field commanders in Great Britain to discuss new developments or concluding old business. Striding up to them, he put on his best 'honorable leader' face and tried to make it seem as though they were old friends of his that he was glad to see still alive.

"I cannot express enough my relief at seeing you all still alive. I had feared the worse given the current situation." He said, shaking the hand of the man whom he believed was the leader of the group of survivors, "Now, while I am sure you would like a moment to rest and regain your strength, I must ask you a few questions first."

"You want to know the identity of the attacking forces." The leader stated not as a question, but as a statement of face.

"Yes, that would be the most pressing of the questions." Travers said, glad that the man was sharp enough to know what his priorities were.

"Everything I know is on this piece of paper sir. I managed to acquire it from one of the bodies of the people who attacked the safe house." The leader said as he pulled a single piece of folded paper from his coat pocket and handed it over, "I think you'll be most interested in what's written on it."

While somewhat puzzled by what could be so crucial that it could be contained on a single piece of paper, curiosity got the better of him Travers took the piece of paper and unfolded it, thus revealing the contents for his eyes to see. Written in elegant lettering was his name, a single sentence and the name he presumed of the person responsible for the assault on the Council.

_Quentin Travers_

_Today is the day that the Sisterhood of the Slayer takes back control of their futures._

_--The Boss_

"How did they know my name? Who is this 'Boss'?" He asked, uncertain as to why the man in front of him placed so much importance on this piece of paper.

"Why wouldn't a Slayer know the name of her enemy?" The leader asked rhetorically as though the answer to his questions was obvious, "As to whom The Boss is, the answer is simple. She is our leader."

A split second later, all five survivors flickered, rippled and then they were not who they had once been. In the place of five ordinary looking Watchers were five black-clad people that looked like ninjas but were armed with a combination of state of the art military hardware and melee weaponry. He barely had time to express his shock at this development before the five ninjas exploded into action, leaping and lunging across the room killing people with a single attack. He tried to come up with some kind of strategy, some orders he could give to turn the tables on these invaders, but he was too overcome with shock to move a muscle. By the time he had reacquired enough of his mind to do something, fully three quarters of the room's occupants were dead with the remainder backed into a corner with him.

_While not the people I would have chosen to fight alongside, they are still skilled enough to make a fight of this! _He thought as he reached into his coat pocket for the spell amplification amulet he had taken to always carry with him since the crisis began.

"Stand fast, my friends! They may have drawn first blood but we can still win this!" Quentin said, trying to inspire courage and conviction in those around him.

"You're wrong, sir. This battle is over," came a cold female voice from his left.

As he turned to see who the coward was he suddenly found himself surrounded on all sides by the remaining HQ Watcher's with blades in their hands and hatred of him in their eyes. It was in that moment that he had an epiphany as he realized that these people hadn't escaped death at the ninja's hands by chance, but rather by design. Everything from the moment Ms. Parker reported the activation of the teleportation circle in the basement to this very moment had been planned! Worse yet was that the majority of his 'comrades' were those that had been manning the communication gear and information network. If they were all traitors, then there was no telling what the true situation was in the outside world. For all he knew, the woman spoke the truth and every last Watcher compound and safe house on the planet could have fallen. The shock he felt, however, soon turned to outrage as he couldn't believe that he…that the Council had been so swiftly brought down and with aid from the inside! While he knew his death was likely close at hand, he had to know one thing before he died or else he knew his soul would not find peace.

"Who is this Boss of yours?! Why is she doing this!?" He yelled out, not caring if it hastened his death.

"I believe Commander Huntington already answered that, Travers," came a voice that at once sent a chill throughout his body and fanned the flames of outrage within him.

Looking towards the door that Ms. Parker had brought the survivors through, he saw coming through it a young woman, eighteen or nineteen years of age, dressed in clothes unlike any he had ever seen before but that had certain militaristic elements in them that made it clear it was made for warfare. With weapons similar to those wielded by the ninjas, he knew that if she wanted to she could wipe out every last person in the room in under a minute. He knew this because he better than anyone else knew what gifts the Slayer essence bestowed upon one of its bearers. With the revelation of the mastermind of this coup, all the pieces began to fall into place for the most part with the only unanswered part being 'how'. How had Buffy Summers managed to assemble a force large enough to bring down the Watcher's Council? It made no sense! She was only a teenager! There was no way that she should have been able to pull off something like this without someone powerful helping her!

"As for why I'm doing this, I believe my note pretty much said it all. My fellow Slayers and the potentials that have chosen to stand with us are taking back our futures." Summers said as she continued to walk towards him with her ninjas flowing aside to allow her to pass, "No longer will you and the old regime of Watchers force us to fight an uphill battle with archaic equipment and no back up. No longer will being a Slayer mean death to some innocent young woman within three years of being Called. As of today, **we are FREE**!"

He barely had a moment to open his mouth to deliver a few scathing last words before Summers drew her sidearm, aimed it right between his eyes and fired.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_**Twelve Years Later, One Day Prior to the Events Aboard The Big Shell**_

_**Unknown Location**_

"Have the portents been confirmed, Metis?" Buffy asked as she slid her arms into the sleeves of her sneaking suit.

"Yep. I've matched the references the precogs gave us with the intelligence the Colonel and Commandant Dolph managed to get through to us," Willow replied as she tapped away at an inconceivable rate, using her realistic looking cyber-hands. "Dead Cell survivors, Solidus, aka ex-president George Sears, Olga Gurlukovich and her people are in the city undergoing preparations to board Big Shell."

"And **him**?" Buffy asked as she felt the miniature servos in her suit come online and the suit become uncomfortably tight around her body.

"He's been confirmed as being with Solidus, Dead Cell and Gurlukovich's people. Any idea what he has planned?" Metis asked as she continued to bring up intel on both Big Shell as well as the forces preparing to commandeer it.

"No. Odds are he's just doing another mission for **them**! The fool doesn't realize that any deal made with **them** cannot be trusted," she growled out frustrated that her 'talk' with him four years ago at Shadow Moses hadn't had the desired effect.

"Buffy, you know he's only doing it for—" Metis tried to say before a sharp clicking of a clip sliding into place silenced her as it made it clear that the discussion had ended.

"It doesn't matter and from here on out, use only my codename." She said sharply, not wanting to hear her friend for the past twelve years try and justify her brother's actions.

"You go it, **Boss**." Metis stated with some annoyance at her friend's lack of flexibility when it came to her brother.

"Finish downloading the necessary intel onto your built in memory banks and then join us in the meeting room." Buffy said before sliding the last of her weapons into their holsters and heading for the mentioned room.

She knew she was being a bit harsh with her friend, but now wasn't the time to be debating her brother's somewhat decent motives because, as far as she was concerned, 'the ends justify the means' only justified so much. She wasn't that naïve to think that a mission could be accomplished without dancing on the line between good and evil here and there. The days of her living by a civilian's code of ethics were long gone and she was no longer concerned with looking like a hero to spectators or allies. To her, the mission came first, last and always. After all, the missions she went on personally were either crucial to her personal mission or it was literally a 'she had to fight or **EVERYONE** died' situation. That was because of her responsibilities as the head of the Slayer's Council as well as commander of the Hunters Unit that led the Council. It was her position and the responsibilities that came with it that kept her off the battlefield. All she could do most times was call the important shots when she had to and deal with the consequences later. That was why she made every field mission she fought in count because, for her, a Slayer and a soldier, it was only in fighting that she truly felt like she was making a difference.

As the doors to the meeting room opened, she laid eyes on the other two members of her Unit. On the right was the man who had been a surrogate father to her and who acted as one of her chief advisors when she couldn't make a decision on her own. You wouldn't know it if you looked at him, but he was actually in his mid-fifties despite the fact that he looked like he'd just hit his mid-thirties. It had been a freak chance that the exposure to the experiment in Brazil had regressed him to such an age and, so far, all of his annual examinations showed no signs of it wearing off or harming him in any way. Still, she couldn't help but worry that her lucky break might have more to do with some scheme of those **bastards** than Lady Luck cutting them some slack. Still, his on the spot field information often proved invaluable, especially when the enemy managed to jam communications at a critical moment. The fact that he was one helluva sniper didn't hurt either.

Leaning up against the wall on the left was the one person she knew she could count on to complete the mission if something ever happened to her. While she still saw him as just a good friend, Xander had proven his loyalty and his value to the Council so many times she'd pretty much lost count. However, the one thing she'd always be grateful for the most was the trust he had shown her throughout his training. Most people would have called her a sadist and accuse her of orchestrating everything so that he'd give up sooner rather than later. The fact of the matter was that her **br****other** had seen potential in her second in command and had pressed her to help him reach it, no matter the cost. One integrated hyena possession and one night as Jack had turned him into a legendary soldier in his own right.

_Not that he's good enough to beat me in C.Q.C, but then I'm the only one he's ever lost to, so definitely not too shabby._ She thought as both men laid eyes on her as the door closed behind her.

"So are we a go, Boss lady?" Venator, aka Xander Harris, asked as he pushed off the wall to stand straight up.

"Yes. Willow has confirmed the presence of all the expected players in the city and intel confirms that they're planning to make their move within twenty-four hours." She replied as she moved to the head of table right in front of the plasma screen.

"And you're certain about what is contained within Big Shell?" Agnitio, aka Rupert Giles, asked, living up to his role as advisor by pointing out the biggest issue of the mission.

"Yes. Based on the skills and backgrounds of the people assigned to Big Shell, they could only be planning a massive operation via the internet." She replied, pressing a button on the table that caused the screen behind her to display the most important personnel involved, "Central to their efforts appears to be a cutting edge computer A.I created by this lovely young lady, Emma Emmerich. Her, along with several others, bear out my theory based on what our precogs told us."

"So how is all this going to go down?" Venator asked, looking at the faces displayed as well as each person's bio data.

"Based on the most likely mission objective of Solidus, we expect him and his group to make their move in about twenty-four hours. Three to five hours later, the local P.D and military will likely arrive on the scene. After that, things will start to get interesting." She replied before bringing up images of Dead Cell and Solidus, "Ordinary troops won't stand a chance against these four. They have too big an advantage in both skill and firepower for even elite Navy SEALS to do anything other than provide some entertainment for them."

"So who do you think the Pricks are going to rope in to solve the situation?" Venator asked with some annoyance that saving the day was once again going to be up to them.

"Unknown, but whoever it is will probably be just another puppet. They won't risk a repeat of what happened at Shadow Moses." Buffy replied, remembering the news broadcasts after that event.

"Speaking of David, will he be joining us in this venture?" Agnitio asked, sounding almost hopeful.

"I sent invitations to his usual drop boxes but there've been no replies. Just the same, though, I wouldn't be surprised if we bumped into him during the mission." She replied, sharing Giles' hope that her 'foster brother' would be around to help out.

Seeing the door open to admit Metis, she assumed this meant that the team's electronics and computer specialist had everything she'd need for the mission. While on the surface her expression didn't change, internally she couldn't quite repress a flinch every time she caught sight of Willow's cybernetics. It had been during one of the few missions when things went about as pear shaped as any operation could go that the redheaded Wicca had been injured to the point where amputation had been necessary. Fortunately the resident genius of the Hunter Unit hadn't let a little obstacle like that slow her down and, within two years, had invented cutting edge cybernetic implants that brought her back to one hundred percent and then some. Still, it was something that would always cause a pang of guilt within Buffy, since she had been the one that had planned the entire operation. It had been a slap in the face for her and was the reason why she devoted her every waking moment to making sure that nothing was left to chance when the Hunter Unit went into the field.

"Do you have everything?" She asked, more for the sake of Venator and Agnitio than herself.

"Yep. When we get into The Big Shell, we'll have all the info we need to get what we want and some choice hacking programs I typed up to get past anything that gets in our way." Metis replied as she took her seat at the table, "The Patriots won't know what hit them."

"Good. Once we have the names, you'll need to send them to both the Colonel and Commandant immediately. I promised them that in exchange for their co-operation and obedience that I'd let them be the ones to lead the charge against those bastards." She said, remembering the lengthy argument that she'd had with the two fathers, "As it was, they only caved after I promised to make sure that their daughters made it out in one piece. Plus I owe Reggie for helping out at the last minute with Glorificus."

"So we got the info, we got the people, now tell us the plan, Boss." Venator asked, ready to commit the mission plan to memory and offer his own advice on how to make it better.

"Here's how it'll begin: we'll sneak aboard The Big Shell disguised as an advanced party for the President. Metis can manufacture whatever authorization we need and insert our names into the appropriate databases so we'll come up golden if they decided to verify anything." Buffy explained before pressing another button on the table to display a layout of The Big Shell, "From there, we split up because, as you all know, multiple angles of attack are key to winning any battle."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&


	26. A Change of Plans

"A Change of Plans" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"A Change of Plans" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

(BtVS/Naruto)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They belong only to their individual creators and associated companies. I am making no money off of this whatsoever. I write this only for my own personal pleasure and for the enjoyment of those that like to read my work.

Note: This idea came about when I considered the horrible anti-Buffy situation that cropped up during the final season of BtVS. Now while some Buffy Bashers would probably say that this was Buffy Summers at her worst, and to a degree it was, I feel that these people failed to take into account all the factors both in Sunnydale and surrounding the production of the show in the first place. While I would not classify myself as a Buffy fanboy or someone who thinks that Buffy Summers can do no wrong I do believe that if one takes all the facts available about the final season into account they can hardly blame her for her choices.

Once I had chosen the time frame in which this drabble/short would occur I began to wonder how I might improve the situation so that Buffy wouldn't have such a hard time. Almost immediately this idea took form and I knew that if this had happened during season 7 not only would Caleb get his ass handed to him but any uppity newbie Slayers (coughKennedycough) as well. Then just for fun I decided to throw Xander into the mix simply because I like the character so much.

So sit back and enjoy the latest bit of insanity that comes from the depths of my warped imagination…

_A Change of Plans_

_**Realm of the Powers That Be, One Week Before the Episode "Get It Done"**_

"So it is agreed then? We shall empower the artifact that the human Robin Wood has in his possession and transport Slayer Summers back to the Shadow Men so she may be empowered further?" Asked a male entity that at best could be described as cold and logical although many would consider such a description an understatement.

"It is the most effective means of countering the First's efforts without directly announcing our presence," spoke another that sounded like she had no opinion of her own and just sided with whichever faction was strongest at the time. "Any direct application of our powers in the mortal realm would only give the Evil One more ammunition to gain concessions from the Almighty. The Balance must be maintained."

"A convenient excuse if I ever heard one," muttered a newer member of the governing body that went by the name 'The Powers That Be'.

"Something displeases thee, comrade?" Spoke a male voice that sounded like it had yet to step out of the fifteenth century, much less into the twenty-first.

"Yes, it does," replied the man with a distinctly Brooklyn accent, "almost as much as your outdated vocabulary does. We're making a mistake and the rest of you are too obsessed with your precious plans to see it."

This brought a veritable rumbling of displeasure and annoyance from the rest of the beings that sat at the table, since it was something that their newest member did whenever the champions of Sunnydale were brought up for discussion. Ever since he had been promoted to replace one of their number that had been exiled after evidence had been discovered if an agenda that conflicted with their own plans. Cast out into a random time and a random dimension, they felt secure in the idea that it would take Jasmine centuries to find her way back to their domain, if she ever managed to do so in the first place. By that time they would have found and destroyed all of the remaining focal points for her questionable plan to bring peace to the Earth through mass mesmerizing. It was a foolish plan and one that would have required almost weekly sacrifices from the human race in order to maintain. Even with the rate of speed at which mankind reproduced, it would only have been a matter of time before the race they had sworn to protect was devoured completely. However the loss of Jasmine had also left a hole in their ranks and it had needed to be filled before they could resume their work managing the forces of light, so they had looked through the list of subordinates with the right qualifications and had decided to choose the 'Brooklyn Pimp', as he was occasionally called. He had been one of their most effective messengers and had nicely solved a few of their earlier problems with Slayer Summers before it was mutually decided by all that he never appear before her again. So, with much pomp and ceremony, he had been promoted and given all of Jasmine's divine power since such strength was required for someone to hold such an august position.

However, after a little over two years in Earth time, they had begun to wonder if they had made a mistake in appointing the former balance demon Whistler to his present position. While he had seemed promising at first, someone that could be shaped into a suitable replacement for Jasmine, he was not increasingly incapable of seeing the big picture. On a number of occasions the newcomer showed more concern for a single champion than he did the overall result of the conflict their chosen warrior was involved in. This flaw only became more pronounced when issues involving the Sunnydale Slayer, Buffy Summers, came up for discussion and it was beginning to wear on all their last metaphorical nerves.

"The plan is sound, Whistler. When Slayer Summers is sent through the portal created by the Shadow Caster talismans, we planted in her 'emergency kit', she will either permit the Shadow Men to infuse her with a greater concentration of the demonic essence that started the Slayer line or she will be motivated to awaken all the Slayers," stated the cold and logical member of the group. "Either way, we will gain what we need to stop the First Evil's efforts to become corporeal in the mortal realm of Earth."

"Yeah, but if she chooses option A you'll have to kill her almost right after she defeats the First or the increase in demonic essence within her will turn her dark. If she chooses option B, she'll have to deal with an entire world of Slayers and nowhere near the funds or the resources to take care of 'em all, guaranteeing that a lot of 'em will turn dark." Whistler said, growing more annoyed with the rest of the group's inability to see the flaw in their plans, "In both cases, we either lost one of the best Slayers the light has had in a long time or we lost as many as a hundred Slayers to the darkness, giving the other side a huge advantage. This is **NUTS!**"

"While I understand thy concern, my friend, we are thine seniors and know the twists of strategy better than thou dost. However, in an effort to soothe thine worries, this august body promises to do all that we can to save Slayer Summers from the increase in demonic essence should the future to take that path." Spoke the one whose manner of speech was centuries out of date, "Should she take the other path, we will contact our more wealthy champions in other regions of the world and ask them to contribute what they can to the restoration of the Watcher's Council. Does this bargain satisfy thee?"

They watched as Whistler looked at each member of the group known as The Powers That Be as if asking without words if they would truly hold to this deal or not. If for no other reason than to silence the newcomer, each put on their best face and nodded to imply that they would adhere to the deal as it was spoken. This appeared to satisfy him as all signs of defiance and troublemaking fled his face and his aura, making it clear to them all that this would be the last they heard from him at least on this decision. In their own minds, though, they had no intention of following through on their end of the bargain but, rather, would construct a series of feasible excuses why they could not do as promised. The inexperience of Whistler in these matters, as well as in his newfound powers as a member of The Powers That Be, would prompt him to accept their judgment. After all, while they detested the manner the human Watcher Travers handled the Slayer line, they were in agreement with him concerning one thing: Slayers were expendable resources. At any given time there were at least fifty potential Slayers spread out all across the globe and even with the First's efforts to eliminate them all, twenty had been relocated by them to a secure area on their world. They had secured the continuation of the Slayer line and so if Slayer Summers or those young potentials needed to die to stop the advances of the First Evil then so be it.

All that mattered was the War.

All that must be preserved was the Balance.

All else was expendable at their discretion.

&

_**Ten Minutes Prior to the Activation of the Shadow Caster Talisman**_

_**Ream of The Powers That Be**_

_**Whistler's P.O.V**_

_Bastards! Think they can pull the wool over my eyes, do they! _Whistler thought as he sat in the main chamber of the Powers That Be and watched as his 'comrades' monitored the latest segment of their 'plan'.

It burned him up inside knowing that as bad as he thought his bosses had been when he had just been a subordinate, it turned out that they were actually **worse**. Before he had been **promoted** into the position left vacant by the fallen Power named Jasmine, he had always tried to believe that his bosses really were doing the best they could. He wanted to believe that even if their champions, particularly Angel and Summers, did get dealt a raw deal, that it was because there was literally no other way. Since he had first sat down in the chair he was in, though, he found out to his disgust that his bosses were only a **hair** better than the forces they claimed to despise. This had almost caused him to resign right then and there but he had stopped himself before he had finished writing up his letter of resignation. He had come to realize that while he despised his co-workers, at the moment, he was still in a position of power and that while he had the power, he could make some kind of difference. If he just resigned and went back to his old job, there'd be no guarantee that his replacement would be any better than the shmucks that currently ran things. So, in the end, he had chosen to stay but at present he had to wonder if he really had made a difference in how things were run or if he'd just been spinnin' his wheels. Looking at how things were going down and the knowledge that his 'friends' had no intention of honoring their end of the deal, he knew his time as a Power was truly over.

How did he know they were going to welsh on their end of things?

He received a little office warming gift when he received Jasmine's power in the form of several bits of knowledge, a few spells and the ability to see more than his **comrades** would want concerning what went on inside their heads. Apparently, the former Power hadn't trusted her fellows anymore than he did at the moment and had taken steps to protect herself from them. Why had this not saved her from being given the boot? He could only presume it had been one of two things: either she had known she was going to get exiled and wanted to be kicked out for some reason or the other Powers had caught onto her somewhat and had countered her moves for the most part. They also probably figured that they were safe now that Jasmine herself was gone and didn't suspect one bit that the surveillance measures had stuck around with the power. That was how he had seen the dishonesty in his co-workers when they had 'agreed' to help minimize the damage their current plan was about to cause. The question now became 'what to do with the knowledge he had'?

He knew that, even though he had the power of a full fledged member of this ruling body, the others would stomp down on him quickly the second he tried anything. The leftovers Jasmine had given him might buy him a few minutes, maybe even an hour, longer than had he now possessed them, but they would still squash them the instant they could. That meant that he would need to do all he could to give Summers and her crew the best chance he could to not only gain a leg up on their 'bosses', but keep it no matter what was thrown at them. Sifting through some of the memories Jasmine had left behind as well as some files that had only revealed themselves in his presence, he considered the different ways he could throw a cosmic wrench into the works of his 'comrades'. One by one he x'ed out a possibility either because it would be too much for Buffy to handle or because it might prompt the Almighty to get involved directly. While the Creator of All normally left the Powers That Be to their own devices, he'd heard more than a few stories of times when He/She had been displeased with a decision that had been made or the outcome of a plan. He had no wish to piss off the Almighty. His fellow 'Powers' yes, God the Almighty, **NO**!

In the end he found a possibility that would work out quite nicely and just to make an even bigger mess for his colleagues to clean up: he'd arrange for that Harris kid to go along for the ride. After all, he'd always been of the mind that the Slayer and the White Knight would make a cute couple if Summers would just get over her infatuation with corpses. This way the blonde bombshell would get what she needed to defeat the First, Harris would finally get enough power to make a sizeable difference in a fight and it was a solution that would have any nasty side effects for anyone aside from the First. In short, it was perfect and that almost made him suspicious of the whole idea but, in the end, he decided the outcome of his little scheme couldn't possibly be worse then what these jerks had in mind. So, with that done, he looked at the scene playing out before the collective members of the Powers That Be. It showed the core Scooby gang putting the shadow caster talisman together piece by piece as the Slayer's sister narrated the tale of the first Slayer. Just as it was about to get to the point where the Powers would channel some of their power into the device to open the portal into the past, he established a string-thin connection with the transmission point of their efforts.

_It's showtime! All or nothing, Whistler!_ He thought as he began to mess with the plans of his 'fellow employees' BIG TIME.

Almost immediately they detected his tampering but, just as they were about to use their powers to severe his connection and get things going back in the direction they wanted, his hat trick activated. Prior to the assembly of the collective group, he'd placed a few of Jasmine's special gifts under each of their chairs and keyed them to activate the moment those in close proximity tried to use their powers in a certain way. That certain way, of course, being trying to stop him from going through with his plan and he watched with satisfaction as each of the assholes was encased in demonic crystals. It had been quite a surprise to find out that Jasmine had managed to smuggle them into the higher plains without setting off any alarms. Nevertheless, he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth and was thankful that the crystal spells would keep his **former** comrades frozen in every conceivable way for at least an hour. That would give him just enough time to send both Summers and Harris to where they needed to go as well as put his secondary plan into place. He knew he was being a tad greedy, but he wanted to make certain that he made such a big splash that all these jackasses could do afterwards was curse his name and nothing else.

As the last of his alterations came into play inside of the transmission point, he quickly slammed down the mystic seal on it so as to force these fools to remove the seal before they could even consider undoing what he had done. This would pretty much seal the deal as far as getting Buffy and Xander where they needed to go but, if he wanted them to have a way home, he had to get going and start phase two.

_You owe me __**BIG**__ for this, Summers!_ He thought as he teleported to the next destination in his grand plan, _And I definitely plan on collecting…assuming I'm not wiped from all existence of course._

&

_**Summers Home, Just as the Shadow Caster Ceremony Began**_

"OK. According to this, I think—you put on those puppet guys one by one. They cast shadows and the shadows tell the story," Dawn explained as she read the book in her hands, "First, there is the Earth."

_I sure hope this works out or we're going to be up the shit creek without even a fuckin' __**boat!**_ Buffy thought to herself as she watched her little sister and Xander work the shadow caster thingy.

While the others might not have been willing to confront the truth, she didn't have a choice because, as the elected general of the little army in her house, she didn't have a choice. The reality of the situation was that she wasn't the leader of an army of warriors. She was the leader of five or six people with experience fighting the darkness and a group of terrified teenagers whose entire knowledge base about demons came from horror movies. According to Giles, the potential Slayers of the world were mostly monitored by the Watcher's Council for signs that they had been Called to be the next Slayer. They weren't let on the truth from the beginning, they weren't trained in combat, but rather allowed to remain blissfully ignorant of the truth. Oh, there were a few like Kendra who somehow stood out to the Council as being in the top five of most likely to be the next Slayer, but it was still pretty much a crapshoot as to who would be Called. As such, they were no more ready to fight the good fight then any other American teenager was and so she didn't have a whole lot to work with.

Sure, they were doing their best to train the girls that came to Sunnydale but, realistically, there was no way that they'd be able to turn them into a viable fighting force in time. The Scooby gang had six years or so of experience fighting the demonic element and it showed since her two best friends were definitely better fighters than they had been six years ago. However, there was no way in **HELL** that they'd be able to squeeze six years of experience and demon killing know how into whatever amount of time they had until the big showdown with the First. It was ridiculous to even think that it might be possible to make an army out of these girls anytime soon. This emergency kit that had been put together by Giles, Willow and herself was her last ace in the hole. It was filled with rare books and talismans that, according to her Watcher, were extremely powerful as well as potentially dangerous, so it was only to be brought out in situations were all other options had failed and the situation was rapidly going down the drain. Considering that she'd barely managed to beat the uber-vamp the First had unleashed and it was now picking them off one by one using head games, the situation definitely fit the scenario. They didn't have a clue how the First had been able to bring such an ancient vampire to Sunnydale and, as such, they had no idea just how many more could be thrown at them.

For all they knew, the First was gathering an army of them and the one she'd faced was just a scout.

She wasn't quite sure what the shadow caster thingy could do for them but anything would definitely be an improvement to their current situation. Watching as Xander put the first plate into the turn wheel, she heard her first sign that there was more to this that just a fancy puppet show. Tribal drums began to beat in the air and they came from no visible source, pretty much guaranteeing that they were magical in nature.

"What's that sound?" Kennedy asked, looking around the darkened room for the source of the spooky sounds.

"Okay, so far, so creepy." Xander quipped in an effort to keep everyone from getting too spooked.

"Hmmm. Okay." Dawn said as she chose to continue with the reading, "Then there came the demons."

Xander placed the plate representing a demon onto the turn wheel and, much like she had expected, sounds of a demon growling filled the air. Looking around covertly, she could tell that the whole thing was putting the potentials on edge but it didn't matter. Desperate times called for desperate measures and if these girls couldn't stand strong against mere sounds, then there was no hope for them actually confronting something physical.

"After the demons, there came men." Dawn said as Xander placed the plate representing a group of men in its place.

The sounds of men chanting began to mix with the demonic growling. She only paid partial attention to this since she wanted more than just a campfire story with sound effects.

"Men found a girl." Dawn said and after Xander placed the appropriate metal plate where it needed to go the sounds of a screaming teenage girl filled the room.

"And the men took the girl to fight the demon—all demons. They—chained her to the Earth." Dawn said beginning to falter as things continued to get spookier, "And then—and I—I can't read this. Something about darkness."

It was then that things really took a turn for the weird as the shadow caster thingy began to spin on its own without any help from anyone in the room. Even wierder was that now the shadows created by the lights and the plates began to move on their own. Piece by piece the story that Dawn had already laid out was being repeated in full motion glory on the walls and ceiling of the living room.

"It says you cannot be shown. You cannot just watch, but you must see. See for yourself, but only if you're willing to make the exchange." Dawn said as she read the book in front of her but sounding slightly unnerved.

"When did you get so good at Sumerian?" Xander asked from his position on the other side of the table where the shadow caster sat.

"It's not in Sumerian anymore." She replied before turning the book in his direction to reveal the Sumerian script completing its shift into English.

Naturally, when some mystic object begins making your job of using it easier, it usually meant big trouble. She could see that all the other Scoobies as well as the majority of the Potentials also thought that the sudden change in tempo could only be a bad thing. Faster and faster the turn wheel spun, repeating the story of the First Slayer over and over again, until, in a flash of light that caused all to turn away for a few seconds, a purplish-bluish window of energy hung in mid air. Looking at it, Buffy knew what it was, a portal, and she also knew what she had to do. Obviously, in order to get what they wanted, someone had to go through and since, she was the Slayer in Chief for the group, it only made sense for her to be that someone. She was the most experienced fighter present. She knew that the others would be completely against her, would try to talk her out of it, but, when you got right down to it, who else was there? They literally had no one else better suited to surviving what could be waiting them on the other side than a Slayer with her degree of experience. While Willow or Giles might have been the brains behind the Scooby gang, they weren't much when it came to physical fighting in terms of hand-to-hand combat. Sure, fledglings and maybe some of the weaker breed of demons they could handle but since they hadn't exactly been eager to face the uber-vamp, she was the brawn of the group. Plus, she knew enough from watching the two of them work magic over the years to know that most of the more potent spells required preparation time.

She somehow doubted that whatever threats were on the other side of the portal would stand still and wait for Willow or Giles to blow them to pieces.

"But what does it mean?" Xander asked, obviously worried that they might be getting into something that they might not be able to get out of later.

She was just about to open her mouth to say 'it means I have to go in there' when all of a sudden the color of the portal changed from it's dark blue color to a more forest green color. That was about all she was allowed to take in before, out of nowhere, a white arm made of energy shot out from the gateway and grabbed her before yanking her into the portal. Unable to get any leverage, she could only watch as she zoomed towards the portal and whatever lay on the other side. However just before her face made contact with the portal, she could have sword she heard a girlish scream coming closer towards her. Not that it had actually come from a girl since she was smart enough to be able to tell the difference, but that only left one of the men.

_I swear if I get stuck in some hell dimension with Andrew, I'm __**gonna KILL HIM!**_She thought before everything went black.

&

"What happened?! Where'd they go?" Dawn exclaimed as she stared at the spot that the portal had been before closing up following the disappearance of her first crush and sister.

None of them could comprehend what just happened but it was fairly safe to say that nothing that had happened since the employment of the shadow caster had been what they had expected. From the sound effects to the animated shadows to the portal, they had all received one surprise after another resulting in a slight case shock. For most of the Potentials, this just meant that they reflexively turned to the Scoobies for advice on how to handle this turn of events. For the brain trust of the Scoobies, Willow and Giles, though, it was pretty much enough to reduce their IQ level by half making coming up with a way to handle things like getting an old car engine to turn over. Their brains were just stubbornly refusing to go back to work after getting dive bombed not once but multiple times in the space of a few minutes. All that filled their minds were the questions 'what just happened' and 'where are Buffy and Xander' with nothing but static filling the space in between.

Surprisingly enough it was Anya who spoke next.

"What was that about an exchange?" The former Vengeance Demon asked looking back and forth between the humans she felt should have the answer, "What could we possibly be getting in exchange for **MY** Xander and Buffy?"

The answer though didn't come from any of the usual sources but rather one that had not been heard from in five years.

"Don't worry about your friends. They're in the best of hands." Said Whistler as he walked out of the darkness in his usual pimp clothes, "As for the exchange part…well…there's been a little change in plans. Instead of an exchange, you all get a bonus…kinda."

Before anyone could ask him exactly what he meant, the former balance demon and soon to be former member of the collective body known as The Powers That Be flung his arms out, sending lightning like energy blasts at everyone at once. Even those that had not chosen to watch the last ditch effort of the Scooby gang were hit whether they were located upstairs, downstairs or in the yard. No one could really say what it was that was going on but none of them doubted that they'd be walking away from this experience with something **BIG**.

&

_**Thirty-Two Years Before The Nine Tailed Demon Fox Attacks**_

_**Hidden Village of Konoha**_

In was a sunny day in the ninja village of Konoha and, despite the ongoing war with the Hidden Rain village, the people were genuinely enjoying the day. Kids were playing and couples were enjoying the time they were spending together and one little girl was happy not being stuck indoors listening to boring teachers. She's never been enthusiastic about doing schoolwork and had always done everything she could to avoid it whether by employing the 'innocent girl' routine or the tricks she learned from her Granduncle. Most of the time she managed to get free but, every once in a while, her parents would get the better of her and used her own tricks against her. Then she'd have to do some work or the bad feeling in her chest wouldn't let her have any fun for the rest of the day. Today though she was lucky in that neither her teacher nor her parents were looking to seal her to a chair for her lessons. Today something big was going on and everyone important was needed. She didn't really understand it all but she wasn't about to question a chance to have fun. So, with a smile on her face and ideas of how to prank some her friends, Tsunade of Konoha ran down the streets of the village Hidden in the leaves without a care in the world.

Naturally that's when Murphy felt he should step in and do something about it.

As though a glass container in her mind had shattered, an endless stream of thoughts, images, memories, feelings and personality traits exploded outwards to the four corners of her mind. She could make no sense of them for she was far too young to have heard of anything like this, seeing as how she was only just beginning her lessons in the way of the ninja. However, unlike how one might expect, the mind of Tsunade was not replaced or destroyed at all but simply rearranged to compliment as well as aid the new one moving into her head. It was not necessarily a fusion of the two minds but, rather, the new mind was in the drivers seat while the other one became the roadmap, the tourist brochure and the backseat driver all rolled into one neat little package. Her disorientation seemed to last for an hour from her perspective but, to those that might have passed by her either on the road or on the rooftops, it just looked like she had lost her footing for a moment. No one but her though knew the full scope of the changes that had just been done to her both mind and body.

"What the…" was the question that came from her mouth as the part of the little girl that was Buffy Summers took in the world around her for the first time.

However, what shocked her just as much as her new surroundings, was the fact that almost immediately after she finished forming the question in her mind the answers came. Looking about, she knew exactly where she was both in terms of the village of Konoha and the street she was standing in. Places popped into her mind as possible destinations because she'd had fun there or knew someone she considered a friend there. This caused her brain to stall because, as Buffy Summers, she had never been here before in her life but the parts of Tsunade that had been incorporated into her mind had. Buffy's first impulse was to try and keep the unfamiliar variables in her head separate from what she considered to be her life. However, every time she looked at something or heard something, information from the part of her that was Tsunade intruded as though her defenses didn't even exist. It threatened to drive her crazy both because she was doing her best to resist what she considered foreign information and because all that had been the seven year old Tsunade had become as much a part of her as anything else. So, essentially, she was fighting against herself and unless something happened to put a stop to the inner conflict she was going to have a mental breakdown.

When that something did happen, it definitely wouldn't have been her first choice.

"Hey Summers! I bet you're wonderin' what the hell you've gotten yerself into now, right?" Said the balance demon she knew as Whistler, who appeared to be standing right in front of her, "Well, the short version is your in a place where you can get what you need to fight the First and your about to live a life that'll give you the command experience ya didn't have before."

"WHISTLER!! What the **HELL** have you done this time!?" She exclaimed in anger, sounding like she'd like nothing better than to make good on the promise she made to the balance demon the first time they met.

"Now before you get it into your head to pummel me into a greasy stain, I just want to tell you I'm not really here. This is just a mental recording I downloaded into yer soul just before you went through the portal." Whistler said, completely heedless of the blonde girl's fuming, "First I want you to know that you're in another world, another reality if you will, that's similar to the one your from but different enough to keep things **interesting**…if ya know what I mean!"

While she'd like nothing better than to curse up a storm, she was smart enough to know that the way her luck went, no one else in this world could see or hear this holo-Whistler. So, rather than draw attention to herself by yelling at her 'pretend friend', she merely stood still and glared at where her mind was telling her Whistler was standing. She also made a promise to herself that if she ever saw the real Whistler again, she was going rip off both his arms, shove one up his ass, the other down his throat and let him shake hands with himself in his stomach!

"You'll be living out the entire life of the young lady you're in, but don't worry 'cause you'll be in control for the most part. Now, you're probably askin' 'what do you mean 'for the most part?'' and the answer is that you'll be carryin' some extra luggage in yer head from here on out." Whistler's little hologram said in an incredibly lifelike manner, "As of right now, you're no longer just Buffy Summers but also one Tsunade Yoshida, with all that that entails. You're the one pretty much in control but all of the habits, tendencies and interests that little Tsunade had up until today have now been added to yours. They will influence how you develop from here on out and make sure that none of the locals will be able to tell that there's something up with their little princess."

_Great! Now I'm gonna have to life with a voice in my head telling me what it wants for a snack!_ She thought since she somehow doubted that Whistler was telling her everything.

"Now don't think that the news is all bad, Slayer. I figured ya might get a little lonely here so I made sure to bring one of your friends along for the ride as well. If I'm right, he's getting the same speech you are right about now so you might want to go look for him once I'm done." Whistler said with a smile on his face that implied he thought he'd done her a big favor, "I figure with him around, you'll at least have someone to unload on when things get too rough. He was the one who lent out his shoulder for you to cry on before, so I figure he wouldn't mind pullin' the same assignment twice. He'll also be here, though, to give you a swift kick in th' ass when you need it to since he has a knack for **SEEING** things better than you sometimes."

Hearing this, she tried to figure out who Whistler meant, who he'd sent on this mystery flight to another dimension as well as another life, and while it took her a few seconds she in the end could only come to one conclusion.

Xander.

Throughout the past six years she'd been in Sunnydale, he was the only guy she could honestly say she went to more often than not when her calling got too heavy for her. It was the real reason she kept him at the 'just my Xander-shaped friend' level even though in her heart, he really did have a shot at being more than that. Even in that first year, she could tell that he could be her rock, the solid base she could lean on when her own strength wasn't enough, and that was why she transferred any feelings she had for him to Angel. She believed that if she had allowed herself to fall for him, that he would lose the ability to be her rock and just become someone that could mess her up even more emotionally. Contrary to what the others might have thought, it was actually Angel that she never really saw as more than a friend. All the sweet moments, all the love she seemed to show him, was her just putting an 'Angel' label over the 'Xander' label on her heart. Most of the really 'angsty' parts were pretty much acting on her part and, just like her elementary school play director told her once, she was a natural at it.

_The only parts that weren't all acting was the trouble I had actually staking Angelus when he popped up._ She thought to herself not even noticing that the holo-Whistler was silently watching her, _It wasn't so much that he was the love of my life thing that kept me from doing it. It was me asking myself 'what kind of Slayer are you that you cannot save one of your friends?' that kept me from finishing the soulless bastard off._

It was something that happened to every 'hero' she could think of at one point or another in their career. They look at the crisis in front of them, look back at the time someone they were close to got killed on their watch, and wondered if the same thing was about to repeat itself. Merrick's death had hit her hard and, to that day, she wondered if she could have saved him if only she had tried harder or not given up so soon. She had seen the gun in his hands and knew that something bad was about to happen right in front of her. Either Merrick would try to shoot Lothos, only to fail since bullets didn't have all that much effect on vampires, or Lothos would get to her first Watcher before the man could fire his weapon. In the end, the man who introduced her to the darkness did something neither she nor Lothos had anticipated and shot himself in the head with his own gun. She still tried to understand why he did that, why he killed himself, but she'd liked to believe it was for all the right reasons. Perhaps he killed himself to deprive Lothos of the satisfaction. Maybe he killed himself to remove himself as a potential hostage that the old vampire could have used against her. She honestly didn't know and, as a result, thus lack of knowledge coupled with her constant 'what could I have done' questions had resulted in her refusing to give up on Angel until she absolutely had to.

Needless to say, she now knew that there was a difference between 'never giving up' and 'not knowing when to quit' when it came to saving friends.

In the years that followed, most misconstrued her overprotective tendencies towards Xander as being the result of thinking him helpless because he was **just** human. The truth of the matter was that she could see how the big bads were getting tougher every year and this caused her to fear him dying more and more. While not helpless or useless, Xander had far less to fall back on to keep himself safe since he was neither versed in magic nor had a mystical healing factor. Sure, he had his soldier memories from Halloween but after the whole mess with the Initiative, it was pretty clear that even the cream of the crop soldiers geared up with all the latest equipment had limits. Thus, while his soldier memories put him a level or two above what he had been combat-wise in the beginning, she had still been worried about how that would stack up against the new big bads. Needless to say, his numerous bouts of simply charging in to help his friends even though the situations were obviously way out of his league nearly gave her heart attacks. While she was touched by how much he cared about them all and could hardly hold his heroic tendencies in check (she was not going to be the pot calling the kettle black), it had still been difficult to let him fight alongside the rest of them.

Now he had apparently been drawn into this weird world along with her and, judging by how Whistler had emphasized the word 'Seeing', she assumed that that was a clue as to whose life her friend had gotten squeezed into. Consulting the Tsunade luggage that the balance demon had been so kind in meshing with her own life, she knew that there were two ninja clans with unique abilities centered around the eyes. So either Xander was now in the body of a member of the Uchiha clan or a member of the Hyuuga clan, since both possessed a bloodline limit that enhanced their ability to see. There were no other clans in Konoha whose special abilities centered on their eyes too, unless Whistler **wasn't** trying to slip her some hint, in which case she'd be looking for one person among hundreds.

Needle in a haystack didn't **quite** cover it.

Looking back to him she was surprised to see that this message seemed to take that as a cue that she was willing to resume listening. For a moment she wondered if this wasn't a hologram at all but actually the balance demon in the flesh and he was just pretending to be a hologram to keep her from kicking the shit out of him. However considering she was in a seven year old body that she wasn't familiar with and probably didn't have Slayer powers built in she decided that testing that possibility just wasn't worth it. Even if he was here the most she could probably do was literally try to bite the ankles off of him since her muscles lacked the strength to kick ass.

"Now while I know yer not exactly crazy about the idea of stayin' here and essentially livin' someone else's life, but I promise that when this life comes to an end, you and your buddy will get sent home with a nice severance package." Whistler said before looking down at the watch on his holographic wrist, "Now I have to get movin' because I'm on something of a tight schedule. So enjoy life in a ninja village and, if yer feelin' especially grateful when you get back, please don't hit me. See ya!"

With that the holo-Whistler vanished, leaving her to wonder what she should do first. Should she scope out the Uchiha district and try to find someone acting like her Xander shaped friend? Or should it be the Hyuuga compound? Reaching into the pocket of her outfit, she found the perfect decision maker: a coin. Flipping it in the air, she decided that if it landed with the side she'd labeled 'heads' facing the sky, she'd go take a stroll through Uchiha territory but, if the other side looked at the sky, it'd be the Hyuuga's. Watching as the coin twirled in the air, she stepped back and let it fall to the ground before she leaned over a bit to see which direction random chance would send her.

_Uchiha compound it is then._ She thought before consulting her memories of Tsunade's life for the past seven years to figure out the quickest path from where she was to where she wanted to go.

&

_**Hyuuga Complex, Konoha, Same Time**_

_Well this is certainly stranger than my life usually gets._ He thought as he tried to pay attention to the lessons of the teacher in front of him.

At least Fate had decided to cut him some slack and wait until he was alone for more than five minutes to 'wake him up' and dump Whistler's message on him. He liked to think that he'd handled it pretty well, all things considered, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to split the balance demon's head open like a watermelon the next time they met face to face. After all, it's wasn't every day you wind up eight years old again, in another reality and set to the live the life of member of the head family of a prestigious ninja clan. For one thing, there was the fact that apparently the order in which you were born determined where you stand in the clan rankings. According to the memories of Hyuuga Hiroki, the eight year old boy he'd been shoved into, it's the first born child of the current Lord of the clan that becomes the heir and any child that comes afterwards goes straight to becoming a member of the branch family. However this didn't jive with the fact that Hiroki was born the son of the brother of the current Lord of the Hyuuga clan and yet was still considered a member of the head family. The kid he was in had asked about this about a year ago, thankfully, and the answer he'd received was that it had been the dying request of Hiroki's father that his son be made a member of the head family in all respects. It hadn't been elaborated on but apparently the current Lord of the clan and his brother had been quite close and, despite protest from his advisors, the wish had been granted. Of course it wasn't said in that particular way but, looking at the memories of the explanation from the point of view of twenty-three year old Xander Harris, it was easy to read between the lines. Taking in the careful manner in which the answer had been delivered, plus the looks Hiroki got occasionally from the advisors when they passed in the hall, it was all spelled out for him.

So, while he wasn't considered to be in the running for head of the clan, he was still receiving the same level of education, both in the way of the ninja as well as a noble, as if he were the next in line for the Big Chair. He knew that down the line there'd be exceptions and things that were the sole property of the Lord and firstborn but, for the most part, he'd probably get everything else thrown on his plate. Maybe if the worst happened and Lord Hyuuga was about to kick the bucket without siring an heir, he'd get promoted but odds were it was just wishful thinking on his part. There was also the fact that there was probably a lot more to being a lord than little Hiroki's thought there was and, in the end, he figured it'd probably be best if he didn't become the head honcho of the family. Still, to have to do all the work without the big payoff at the finish line definitely made being a good 'young master' difficult for him. Sure, he had the kid's memories to fall back on as well as the mannerisms, skills and some personality traits, but he was struggling with everything he was being taught. The only good thing he could say about this lesson was that it was over in about five minutes, since the class had to be cut short due to some high class meeting that was taking place soon.

"All right, young master. I think we'll call it a day for now." Hyuuga Kenta said before wiping what he'd written off the blackboard on the wall of the room, "You're free for the rest of the day but please be sure to stay near to Michiko-san, okay?"

"Hai, Kenta-sensei!" he replied before giving the older man a formal bow while kneeling.

With that he stood up and headed to the entrance/exit to the room, slid the door open and looked up to see the female ninja who had been assigned as his minder/bodyguard. Normally the only people who'd rate a bodyguard would be those in positions of power or influence, like the lord of the clan and those immediately below him in rank. However, because Lord Hyuuga had been close to his brother and, thus, had a potent connection to his nephew, it was believed that the possibility existed that the enemy forces might target him. So because he was a potential weakness to not only the Hyuuga clan but also Konoha as a whole, he'd been assigned a protector. He was also insulted further because his bodyguard was a woman, or at least that was what he figured the old farts who hated him thought. Normally a high ranking member of the head family would be assigned a bodyguard of the highest quality and skill but he'd been given someone only ten years older than himself. Michiko-san was a Chuunin with less than four years experience to her name and, while not a slouch as a ninja, she often complained that she should have made Jounin by now, according to Hiroki's memories. Those same memories, though, showed the young woman to be a pretty okay person and not at all stuffy like the rest of the Hyuuga head family seemed to be. He'd liken her to Ms. Calender in that she knew when to be professional, knew when to loosen up and definitely knew when to have fun when necessary.

"So, Hiroki-sama, what would you like to do?" Michiko-san asked in the kind way that most adults did when addressing someone not even thirteen years old.

"Get outside and get some fresh air." He replied, trying to keep the aloof rich tyke tone present somewhat but not in a dominant way.

"Sounds good. Let's take a walk through the market district and see if there's anything new for sale." Michiko-san said and, with that, the two of them walked out of the Hyuuga compound headed for the market district.

As they walked along, he couldn't help but wonder what sort of life Buffy got slapped into by Whistler. Was she part of one of the more prestigious clans or did she get her heart's desire and become part of a perfectly normal family with zero chances of having to fight? It was what she always wanted back home, ever since the day she was Called as a Slayer, and in a way he thought it'd be nice if his blonde buddy finally got her wish granted. Still, a more realistic part of him warned him that life rarely worked out fairly for anyone and, given the things he knew from Hiroki, Konoha wasn't exactly living in peace times. They were at war with the hidden village of rain and, like most wars, the side with the most soldiers usually determined who'd win and who would lose. Would the Hokage begin conscripting soldiers from the people to keep the military's numbers up? He hoped not but he couldn't ignore the fact that it might become necessary. From what little the boy he was in knew, the rain ninjas were the aggressors in this conflict and it was doubtful that they would simply stop fighting if Konoha surrendered. No, in all likelihood they'd keep on coming until they had everything under their control, whether it be through subjugation or decimation.

_I guess even in this world we probably won't be able to avoid fighting._ He thought looking at all the different goods being sold in the marketplace.

For the next hour straight they looked about all the various things being sold or bartered at the various stalls or stores. Most of the stuff he could identify thanks to the memories of the kid he'd been fused with, however there was one thing that was missing and no matter how hard he looked it was nowhere to be seen. It was maddening to him that, amidst all these goodies, there wasn't a place for his favorite snack amongst the whole bunch. It was then that a horrible thought came to him and motivated him to look even harder for his desired treat. Unfortunately this attracted the attention of his minder/bodyguard Michiko-san and eventually he must have pushed her too far with his determined search.

"Is something the matter, Hiroki-sama?" She asked, sounding both curious and concerned at the same time.

"It's not here. I looked at every treat stand and it's not here." He said, deciding that playing the little kid routine would be his best bet.

"What isn't here?" She asked with a smile promising that she'd help him find it once he told her what it was.

"It's a cake I head of once from someone I met at the playground." He replied, using one of the few times when Michiko wasn't around Hiroki as his foundation, "He gave me a snack cake and it tasted real good. He called them Twinkies."

"Hmmmm… can't say I've ever heard of Twinkies." Michiko said with genuine cluelessness in her voice about the item in question, "I can ask around some more Hiroki-sama, but I don't think we'll find any of those snack cakes in Konoha."

"I'll help you look, too!" Came a little girl's voice from behind them.

Turning around, they both found the girl who had spoken and it turned out to be a blonde girl about a year younger than him. Blonde hair done up in a ponytail with two bangs framing her face, she was wearing a green kimono and shorts along with the sandals that seemed to be the trend in this town. However the instant he took in her hands-on-her-hips pose, he knew he had just found his bud and personal hero Buffy Anne Summers. Many could imitate it but no one could completely duplicate it as far as he was concerned. He had to admit though that seeing her 'go ahead, make my day' pose being done by a girl that hadn't even entered the double digits age-wise was funny. In fact, he couldn't keep himself from giggling a bit at the sight and that drew the attention of both females to him. For Michiko it was a look that spoke of her not knowing what was so amusing about little Tsunade-hime standing like a brave female ninja before them. However, judging by the look on Tsunade/Buffy's face, he was in for a bruising if he didn't clam up and **fast**.

_Still, it looks like Whistler was right!_ He thought as he continued to giggle inside his head even though he had turned expressionless on the outside, _Things are going to be interesting around here!_

&

_**Four Years Later, Konoha Park, Afternoon**_

_Heheheheheh! Konoha is truly a __**wonderful**__ place to live! _Xander thought to himself as he used his Byakugan to take in the **true** treasures of the village, _Who knew that Kimoko-san was that well __**endowed!**_

Some would say that this sort of activity and those sort of thoughts were unbecoming of a member of the head house of the Hyuuga clan. In truth, though, it was those sorts of people that allowed him to get away with this sort of thing in the first place. Those people and his super ultra poker face that kept what he was seeing and feeling a complete mystery to all who might spot him at the moment. It had been about two years before when he'd been attending classes at the academy that he'd run into someone who was so much like his friend Jesse it almost made him believe in cross dimensional reincarnation. Over the weeks that followed, the two of them became friends and then the white haired terror of the village introduced him to his favorite past time: peeking! At first he had been against the idea since, thanks to his White Knight nature, it was wrong to act like a peeping tom. However, month by month, Jiraya managed to come up with one persuasive argument after another as to why it was perfectly alright. According to the insanity of the village, all the women knew that each time they visited the bath houses, the locker rooms and places like that, that they were exposing themselves to those with special skills and abilities. Sharingan, Byakugan and numerous other factors made privacy a relative thing in a ninja village with no sure fire way to know whether anyone was watching or not. There were numerous Hyuuga men in the village and many other ninja whose skills and abilities that would allow them to peek completely undetected.

_Therefore, since there isn't a member of ANBU or the local authorities monitoring every one of these people or a stiff penalty for peeping, then the majority of the villagers either didn't mind or didn't care._ He thought to himself as he panned his vision to the left to view the rest of the bath house, _Oh sure, if the peeper is caught, the women are livid but I don't plan on getting caught and, thanks to the fact that I'm a Hyuuga, I won't be. After all, who'd suspect a member of the illustrious clan of peeping and, as long as I didn't show any tells that let people know what I'm doing, then I won't get caught._

So it came to pass that while his bud Jiraya had to rely on cloaking his presence and using a telescope for his peeping, the Xan-man had it made it the peeking business. As far as everyone else knew, he was simply working to master his kekkei genkai and was occasionally praised for his diligence. In fact there was only one person who suspected the truth and, no matter whether or not she could prove it, she always did her best to put a stop to it if she thought she was catching him in the act. Fortunately she was currently out on a mission with her new team and wasn't expected back for a full two days, so he had plenty of time to enjoy the **view**.

At least that had been his plan but then, out of nowhere, he sensed serious hostile intent and, just as he located the source, he spotted a kunai headed his way. This was not good because he was essentially a sitting duck on the branch he was sitting on and he had been so focused on his peeking that he was not in a position to gracefully dodge. So, more like a baka, he could only scramble out of the path of the oncoming weapon and that led to him literally crawling off of the branch to land awkwardly on the ground. It was **not** a pleasant experience and as he sat himself right side up, he rubbed his head knowing that in an hour there'd be one helluva lump for him to explain to anyone who noticed. Turning angrily, he prepared to use some of the non-lethal but nonetheless painful techniques of Juken but, when he saw the culprit, all he wanted was to get to his feet and **RUN**.

"I thought you would've learned your lesson by now **Hiroki-san**." Tsunade/Buffy said, standing before him with her 'you are in big trouble' look at full force, "Using Byakugan to be a peeping tom! What would Willow say?"

_She'd probably give me the resolve look and make me promise never to do it again!_ He thought barely managing to suppress a grimace of guilt from manifesting on his face, _But she __**isn't**__ here and Buffy doesn't have any proof I've done anything wrong and until she does I'm not admitting to anything!_

"I don't know what you're talking about, Tsunade-chan. I was just perfecting my control over my Byakugan when you fired that kunai at me," he replied, sounding perfectly innocent and convincing. "So, what're you doing back so soon? I thought you weren't going to be back for another two days."

"Orochimaru managed to spot a weak point in the enemy ninjas' defenses and we finished the mission a little early." Buffy/Tsuande replied, looking like she'd be willing to let him off the hook **this time**, "So how's your team doing? Yuriko and Shizuka still acting like a pair of love sick puppies around you?"

"Yeah! Both of them tried to impress me last mission and wound up getting banged up even though Shizuka said she just jumped in to back Yuriko u,." he replied, annoyed that both his teammates spent more time trying to look good in front of him than accomplishing the mission. "Though it's tough to tell with the bug clan with how they all act, you could tell what she was really trying to do if you look hard enough."

Koharu-sensei had been **pissed** on the way back to Konoha and, aside from regularly telling off the ladies from the Inuzuka and Aburame clans, she also gave him all the less pleasant chores to do. It had taken three days for them to get back running at a decent clip that left them desiring nothing but the comfort of their sleeping bags. So when the witch told him that the only way he'd be getting into his sleeping bag was **after** all the chores he'd been assigned were done, he supposed that she thought that since he was the cause of their reckless moves, the Jounin felt that he should be dealt at least some punishment. Whether or not she wanted him to just pick one of them as a girlfriend or just tell the girls to look elsewhere for a future husband, he didn't know. Knowing the harsh lady she was, it was neither of those two possibilities and she just wanted to spread around the punishment in some weird move of shared punishment. 'The team that screws up together gets punished together' he supposed was the reason behind her move.

"Yeah. The others might not see it, but I can see the signs of a crush when I see it." Buffy/Tsunade said with a smile of amusement at her friend's predicament.

"Yeah, well, I doubt that you're team is all peace and prosperity with Jiraya and Snake Face butting heads all the time." He said, pointing out that his team wasn't the only one having teamwork issues that needed to be worked out.

"Yeah, well, we still got the mission done and none of us needed to be patched up any." Buffy/Tsunade said in a huff, looking away from him as a defense against his statement.

"True. So, you want to go get a bowl of ramen and compare notes?" He asked, figuring that the time for taking potshots at one another was over.

"Sure." Buffy/Tsuande replied before a triumphant smirk, "But you're buying!"

Remembering how much Buffy/Tsunade could pack away despite her small, flat-chested body, he knew that his weekly allowance was about to be completely spent.

&

_**Six Years Later, Konoha Entrance**_

"Jiraya? What's wrong?" Xander asked as he walked up to his friend, who apparently had been waiting for him.

The look on the face of his friend for the past nine years was one he was beginning to dread seeing upon returning to the village. It was the look of loss, the look of grief and the look of someone whose heart is in pain that only true loss could induce. Like many wars, he had been forced to lose many friends, people he'd fought alongside, and it hurt him to know that he was not there to save them. It was the one thing he always tried to do for those he called friend, to be there when they needed him, and each failure to hold true to this promise added a scar to his heart. That was why he pushed himself to give everything he had on missions and asked for the most important missions in an effort to bring the war to an end as soon as possible. With his teammates at his side, they managed to come home again and again victorious but there were others who weren't so lucky. Judging from how Jiraya was behaving, someone they both knew, both cared about, had met his or her death on the battlefield. But who could it…

NO!

NOT HER!

"Jiraya! Tsuande-chan isn't--!" he exclaimed, fear gripping his heart at the thought of losing one of his dearest friends.

"Tsunade's fine but…her little brother Nawaki…he's dead Hiroki." Jiraya said with every word making it clear he was having a hard time holding his emotions in check.

His mind was a mix of emotions, partially relieved but at the same time sad at the pain Buffy/Tsunade must have been feeling at the moment, but in the end he knew that he had to go see her. They had been friends back in their own world, friends from the day they hooked up in this world, and he'd be damned if he'd let her go through this alone. Not even bothering to say another word to Jiraya, he took off at a speed only enemies he really wanted to take down usually saw. Leaping to the rooftops, he began his search for Buffy/Tsunade, making a list in his head of all the places she usually went to when something like this happened, and heading for the closest one.

One after another, he looked with no success and anyone who happened to be there when he arrived said they hadn't seen Tsunade there in days. It was as he reached the last two possibilities on his list that he realized precisely where she was and headed for the area that sat atop the cliff that had the faces of the previous Hokage's carved into it. It was a place she went to with Nawaki often because it gave the best view of the entire village and it was the brother of Tsunade/Buffy's dream to eventually become Hokage himself. The kid was dear to the Slayer, as dear as he would imagine the kid would have been had Buffy never come to this world, and his death would have hit her as hard as Dawn's death would. If there was any place she'd flee to when feeling the pain of loss, it'd be there.

It took him about five minutes but he made it there and, just as he thought, Buffy/Tsunade was there kneeling down near the railing, sobbing. It sent pain coursing through his veins seeing her like this and, right then, he knew that he'd do anything for her if it eased her pain even a little. Even though he knew she just saw him as a friend, no matter what world they were in or what body housed their soul, but a part of his heart would always love her. It didn't mean that he hadn't felt anything towards Cordelia or Anya, but Buffy was his first love and those are the kind you never truly give up on or stop loving. Moving slowly towards her so as not to startle her, he soon reached her side and, with the gentleness of someone interacting with a child, he knelt down beside her and wrapped comforting arms around her. He just held her, no words were spoken between them, because he knew that just the presence of someone that she had a strong bond with would be enough to soothe her spirit.

For an hour they knelt like that and, while one or two people entered the area, once they saw what was going on and who was there, they had sense enough to leave. Eventually, though, the sobbing stopped and it looked like she was done venting her grief for the time being but he had no doubt that it'd be weeks before she completely recovered.

"Why did he have to die, Xander?" She asked in a voice only a little above a whisper, "He was so happy to finally graduate from the academy! He said he was going to become Hokage one day!"

"It's a sad fact about wars like this that they destroy so many lives, regardless of who wins in the end. What makes it harder is that so much of the resources for each village are centered on offensive power and defensive power that there's barely anything left for medical help." He replied, trying to put his response in order so there could be no mistakes, "Sure, there are hospitals for people to go to but, with how serious things can get in the field on a mission, many people simply can't hang on until they get back here."

"Then why don't they put medical ninjas on the teams?!" Buffy/Tsunade asked, sounding like she was getting angry that such an obvious oversight had been made.

"I don't know, maybe because with how things are there isn't enough time to train people effectively?" He replied, honestly not knowing if things would work out given the direction he predicted she'd go, "With people coming and going all the time and everyone needed on the front lines, the resources and people for such a thing just aren't easily available."

It wasn't that he disagreed with her, he thought it was wrong to not have someone with moderate medical training on a team, but he also knew that Hokage-sama and the other members of the village council would be reluctant to divert resources from the front.

"It doesn't **matter!**" Tsunade/Buffy yelled in anger, "For something as precious as human lives, for **Konoha** ninja, they should **make** the effort to train and place medical ninja's on teams!"

With those words, she got to her feet like a woman with a mission and, given the look on her face, he pitied the person who tried to prevent her from accomplishing that mission. However, unless he wanted her to lose her temper and go on a rampage, he needed to make sure she approached this rationally rather than irrationally.

"If your going to raise a stink about this, at least take the time to write up some kind of proposal or something to bring up at the next big meeting," he said, trying to sound like he'd argue with her for the rest of the day if he had to. "You're not going to win them over by yelling at them or demolishing the meeting hall. Attack them with sound logic and a workable plan for getting a medical-nin on every team. It's the only way you'll stand a chance of convincing them."

"Of course I'm going to go at them with reason." Buffy/Tsunade said with an affronted look on her face, "What sort of person do you think I am?"

"The kind of person who loses her temper easily and tends to resort to violence more often than not," he replied with his trademarked lopsided grin. "Put together a proposal that stands a chance of succeeding and I'll back you all the way when you bring it before the village council. Hell! I'll go talk with some of the higher ranking Hyuuga in the head family and see if they'll sign on. Alright?"

Looking at her, he couldn't help but marvel at the transformation that took place. Moments ago she was so besieged with grief she could scarcely move and now she looked like she could take on the entire hidden village of Rain all by herself.

"Alright!" Buffy/Tsunade replied with a grin on her face and the fires of determination in her eyes.

&

_**Five Years Later, Tsunade's Room, Konoha**_

_I just can't __**stand**__ being here anymore!_ Buffy/Tsunade thought as she looked over her now-barren room one more time with suitcase in hand.

It just hurt too much to dwell in a building, an area or a village where there were so many reminders of all that she had lost in the past six years. It had been five years since her younger brother died and only months since…since **he** died, despite her best efforts to save him. She couldn't **understand** it! She had succeeded three years ago in getting the ruling village council to begin serious efforts to putting a medical ninja in every four man team and creating a medical establishment in Konoha. She herself had overseen much of it and, just like Xander had promised, he'd managed to get some of the members of the Hyuuga head family to make sizeable contributions to the efforts. In fact it had only been a year ago that she had become satisfied with the results of her labor when she'd looked at the list of deaths in the field to find them less than half of what they'd been before. So why was it, with such a grand achievement, that she hadn't been able to save the one person who had managed to claim her heart?

Over and over again she replayed the mission in her head, looking for some reason why she had failed, something she had overlooked, but it didn't matter in the end. With what she'd known up until each decision had been made, she couldn't think of a single reason why she would have chosen to do things differently. Every choice had been looked at five different ways and those that had to be made in the blink of an eye had been made with the intention of saving lives. In the end, she could come to no other conclusion than the fact that ninja were simply destined to die at some point or another and that it was useless to try and stand against destiny.

Destiny.

She hated that word more than ever before, more than she had when she had simply been the Slayer, Buffy Summers, and now she had had enough. She'd already tossed in her resignation from the Konoha military, despite many protests, and had come to the decision to leave the village for good. Where would she go? She didn't know. What would she do? She didn't know. The only thing even approaching a goal was that she'd be taking care of Dan's niece, Shizune, and teaching her all there was to know about medical jutsus and healing people. It hadn't been her plan, not when she'd first decided to leave, but the determined young girl had hounded her about it for an entire month until she'd given in. In the end, Buffy chose to do it more in memory of the man she'd loved and because teaching the kid would keep her mind off more…unpleasant topics.

Sighing, she walked out the door and headed towards the front gates of the village where she'd told Shizune to wait for her earlier on. It was fairly early in the morning and she had chosen this time because most of the village was still asleep, so there'd be less of a chance that someone **else** would try to talk her out of leaving. That had pretty much been the theme of her days after tendering her resignation and, so far, just about everyone as well as their cousin twice removed had taken a swing at it. The only ones to mind their own business had been Hyuuga Hiroki, aka Xander Harris, and old man Third himself. She was both thankful and a little hurt that they apparently did not think her worth enough to try and convince her to stay. On the other hand, they knew her well enough to know that she would not be swayed on her chosen path and didn't want to add to her troubles of getting out of the village. She fully expected for there to be at least ten people trying to stop her from leaving but she wouldn't even bother talking to them. Instead she'd just keep on walking and if any of them bothered to get in her way, she'd give them the 'I **WILL** punch you through ten buildings if you do not move' look and that usually worked on most people.

For those it didn't…well…it kept the medical-nins occupied with something to do.

Walking towards the main gate of the village, she tried not to look around, to see **nothing** but the road in front of her or the staircase or whatever might have been on her path to her destination. However, despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but identify the buildings she passed and that brought up all the memories associated with them. Some of those memories were safe and good ones, but far too many of them reminded her of either Nawaki or Dan. Each memory of them caused her to flinch and her heart to spasm with pain as the knowledge that they were dead hit her again and again. It caused her to quicken her pace towards the village gate so that she could finally leave these painful memories behind.

As the entrance/exit came into sight she had to scowl since, aside from Shizune, both Hiroki/Xander and the Third were waiting by the check in station. As their faces became easier to see, she could not discern any signs that they were preparing to argue with her over her decision to leave the village. However that didn't mean much since Xander/Hiroki had become quite good at concealing what was going on inside his head thanks to the bad habits he picked up from Jiraya. As for Sarutobi-sensei, she had never been able to figure out the old coot, even after all the time they spent together on the same team. The man known as the Professor to many of the Konoha ninja was an enigma wrapped up in a question and placed inside a riddle when it came to his thoughts. So, with the two of them standing there, she couldn't discount the possibility that she'd have to yell at them for awhile before they'd see the futility of trying to talk her out of going. As she got within range of the trio at the gate, she saw Xander/Hiroki open his mouth and she chose to pre-empt any arguments he might have.

"You can stop right there, Hiroki. Nothing you can say to me is going to change my mind about this." She said firmly but keeping her more intimidating glares in reserve, "I just can't stay here anymore."

For a moment nothing was said between the two of them and instead they stared into one another's eyes as though they could communicate with looks alone.

"I wasn't going to try and stop you, Tsunade. The kind of pain you have to be going through is something I can't imagine or even think I'd be able to endure myself." Xander/Hiroki said in a soft compassionate voice, "I just wanted to see you off and get you to promise to come back some day. Not anytime soon, I know, but eventually. Promise?"

She was touched by Xander/Hiroki's words and happy that he wasn't going to try to block her path out of the village. As for his request…well, she could probably just say the words without actually meaning them but Xander/Hiroki had a special ability to see past lies, so in the end there was only one thing she could say.

"I can't make that promise, Xander…I don't know if the pain I'm feeling is ever going to fade enough that I can stand to come back here," she replied, her voice softly floating above whisper level and not far enough to reach beyond his ears. "But if Fate brings me back this way, then I'll be sure to look you up, okay?"

She was grateful that he seemed to accept this reply because she really wasn't looking for this to devolve into verbal sparring match or something. Looking towards her former team captain and mentor, she hoped he would be equally accommodating in terms of how he chose to say goodbye to her. Her debt to this man was great and he was the chosen successor of her grandfather and grand uncle, so his words carried a great deal of weight with her. Perhaps enough that if he phrased things just right, she might cave and decide to stay in Konoha. Seeing him walk towards her clad in his Hokage robes, she braced herself for the words that might come from his mouth. Instead she was surprised that all he did was gather her up in his arms and hug her like a grandparent should. This lasted for a few seconds but that was long enough for her to know she had his blessing on her chosen course.

"Go and heal your wounds, Tsunade, but know that you will always have a place here in Konoha." Sarutobi-sensei said gently and with a small smile that warmed her heart somewhat.

"Thank you, sensei." She said with gratitude before she walked over to Shizune, who had stayed silent throughout the entire affair, "Let's go, Shizune."

"Hai, Tsunade-hime!" Said the little girl who looked up at her with complete devotion and loyalty.

With that, she walked out of the village of Konoha, perhaps never to see it again.

Only time would tell.

&

Over the years that followed, the lives of the two dimensionally displaced teens became wrought with many experiences, both good and bad. Tsunade/Buffy traveled throughout the region, teaching young Shizune all that there was to know about medicine and medically oriented jutsu. Xander/Hiroki, though, continued to live the life of a Hyuuga ninja and, while there were still a few hold outs amongst the hardliners of the clan, he gradually gained the respect and acceptance of his seniors. Years passed and the war with the hidden village of Rain came to an end with peace drifting through the nation of Fire before a spark set off yet another conflict with the nation of Earth. Whether it was by himself or leading a trio of students, the former Zeppo of the Scooby gang did himself and his clan proud. There were prices that had to be paid for each victory, prices that often needed to be paid in pain and one that cost him the life of a favored subordinate, but never did his dedication to his village or his family waver. Tsunade, on the other hand, did her best to stay clear of such conflicts and instead focused on either her duties as Shizune's teacher or indulging herself in life's simple pleasures.

Thirty years later, though, Fate decided to once again interfere in her life by dropping not only her snake-faced former teammate in her lap with dark promises but also the perverted hermit teammate as well. Naturally her first impulse had been to get them to leave her alone but both 'old friends' had strong hands to use against her. Orochimaru tempted her with the possibility of seeing Dan and Nawaki again, alive with the glow of life running throughout their entire body, while Jiraya and his newest rude student, Naruto, came to her asking her to return to Konoha as the Fifth Hokage. So with two weights on either side of the scale and both of them threatening to take hold of her, she did what she normally did in situations like that.

She let her heart be her guide.

Her heart told her not to trust Orochimaru and the memories of her lost loved ones told her that even if she got them back, they would never forgive her for playing a part in the destruction of the village they dedicated their lives to protecting. So began the fight between her former teammate and his subordinate, causing the landscape to change as well as providing some serious work for the local construction workers. However, like always, Orochimaru, as well as those that served with him, were not afraid to use dirty tricks in order to tilt the odds in their favor. If not for the timely arrival of Jiraya, Naruto, Shizune and Tonton, she would have been helpless before her enemies. In all likelihood, they would have succeeded in forcing her to restore the snake's arms and she would once again be under siege from her guilty heart. The fight was fierce and, through the actions of the boy that reminded her so much of her loved ones, she found the strength, the fire, inside of herself again. The old Tsunade was **BACK!** With this done, the fight quickly went in favor of her and Jiraya, since Orochimaru was weakened by Sarutobi-sensei's curse and Kabuto was not strong enough to handle two legendary ninja on his own. With this victory and the hope she'd found in Naruto's dream, she returned to Konoha and, with only a little reluctance, accepted the position of Hokage.

Many old friends were there to welcome her, including Hiroki/Xander, who shocked her by revealing that he'd actually gotten married to Inuzuka Yuriko. They had twin daughters, who she learned through various conversations with others, were taking after their parents both in the way of the ninja as well as mischief.

The lives the two of them led continued to be interesting from that point onward but, like most things, it eventually had to come to an end. So it came to pass that, a few years after they successfully became grandparents, old age claimed them releasing their souls from their fleshy shells.

However this was not the end of things.

No, the only thing that had come to an end was their time in this dimension and in the bodies of Tsunade and Hiroki.

Now the time had come for Buffy Summers and Xander Harris to return to their own world to resume their lives there.

With the promised severance packages coming along for the ride, of course.

&

_**The Summers Family Home, BtVS Dimension, **_

_**Precisely Five Minutes After Xander and Buffy Vanished Into The Portal**_

"Well, that should be about enough time for the pot to boil." Whistler said casually, even though for the last five minutes he's been evading attacks from the various humans in the room.

It had only taken him a minute to do what he had come there to do, to channel the extra energy into the numerous containers, but once the light show had ended, it had been everyone against Whistler. Fortunately for him, though, the extra energy he had given them was still not anywhere near enough to put them in the 'they can kill me' category. The wicca had come the closest with a few of her spells but, since he was still an empowered member of the Powers That Be, they were easy to handle. All during the time he had been keeping the mortals distracted and away from any ideas concerning the shadow caster he'd been keeping an eye on the metaphorical airport to this dimension. He hadn't been entirely sure what the time difference was between this reality and the one he'd sent his two chosen ones off to, but he knew he had to be ready to reopen the portal. It was as he swatted a volley of crossbow bolts that his PTB senses detected Harris and Summers approaching the inter-dimensional airport and he knew it was time to open the door for them. With a shockwave of energy, he knocked all his assailants on their collective asses, rendering them a disoriented mess allowing him to do what was needed. Shooting outwards with hands, he channeled energy into the shadow caster, activating the enchantments on it and causing it to spin at an ever-increasing rate until the portal opened up mid-air in the living room once again.

Seeing as how two humanoid shapes came tumbling through it precisely when it finished stabilizing, he'd opened the portal just in the nick of time. His mind really didn't want to imagine how things might have turned out had he messed up and failed to catch them in time. They might have sailed right past this dimension or been stuck orbiting this reality until their life essences complete disappeared. However they were here now and that was all that mattered to him, since it meant that his plan had succeeded in its entirety. Summers and Harris now had abilities and skills that would throw the First for a loop in the coming battle. Add to that his little present to the rest of the bunch here and he had seriously put the screws to any plan his **former** comrades might have planned for this group. However, that all rested on whether or not Harris or Summers could teach them what they needed to know in time for it to make a difference. He knew that after his little unexpected arrival and the waves the portal sent out, the First would pull back a little in order to get a better handle on whatever new changes there might be. He also knew it'd take about nine weeks for the First's whipping boy to arrive from Hicksville and, until then, the puff of smoke's moves would pretty much be head games. Oh, there might be a few more Turok hans and the occasional Bringer assault, but nothing that this bunch wouldn't have been able to handle before his plan had changed things. However, when The First's enforcer arrived, things would go into hyper-drive and the kids here would have to be up the task if any of them were to survive.

Seeing that the two shapes on the floor were pretty much over the disorientation that usually came with dimensional travel, he decided to take stock of his new cornerstones. Looking first beneath the surface, he was happy to see that the chakra they had in them was consistent with someone from **that** world training or fighting their entire lives. Fortunately, though, their bodies weren't that old but rather only a few years older than the two of them had been when they'd first gone through the portal. Both were at the peak of physical fitness and, unless he was very much mistaken, they'd gotten a hotness upgrade as well. Not entirely unexpected but it had been a long shot he hadn't been sure would work out in the end. However, sensing the rising shock and surprise in the room, he knew that the time for evaluations was over. Someone was going to pop the questions and he knew he'd wind up giving everyone most of the answers.

"Buffy? I-is that you?" Dawn asked, sounding mostly certain but with enough doubt present that proof would be needed in order to wipe it out.

The blonde woman that had come through the portal turned to look at the Key-made-flesh and, the instant their eyes met, the differences in the eldest Slayer became evident. For one thing, though it is somewhat difficult to tell, it seemed as though Buffy has gained an inch in terms of height but it is what rested below her shoulders that attracted the most attention. Where Buffy might once have possessed a moderate B cup before, she had now been blessed with something more in the mid-D range, unless he was very much mistaken. This was a distinct possibility, given the gray kimono-like top she was wearing but, combined with the black pants, Lego shoes and green jacket, he thought she made it work for her.

"Dawn?" Summers asked as though not believing what she was seeing.

This lead to an oh-so-touching approach before both ladies looked the other over in beyond thorough detail before smiles blossomed on their faces as their minds came up with a positive identification in both cases. However, before Summers could grab up her little sister in a hug, Harris zipped in between them so fast that everyone else gasped at this display of speed.

"Buffy! Easy! Remember you're a **lot** stronger now, even without using chakra." Xander said, reminding the Slayer that she needed to keep in mind the changes that had been done.

While this move did bring the now-natural blonde Slayer to her senses, it also redirected everyone's attention to Harris and, like Buffy, he'd undergone some changes as well. For one thing, his hair was a great deal longer, making him look sort of like a brunette Fabio, except that Xander's hair might actually have been longer by an inch or two. He was also wearing something that kinda looked like a martial arts outfit, both pants and shirt, given the billowy sleeves and plainness of the pants. Like Summers, though, Harris also had a new trait that caught everyone's attention but, unlike the Slayer, it had nothing to do with his chest. Instead the change was in his eyes, which had once been chocolate brown but now were a bone white-ish color that prevented them from blending completely with the rest of the eyes. Unlike normal eyes, though, this one didn't seem to have a pupil of any kind but, rather, simply a solid pale iris located at the center of the eye. This little addition, however, had been something he'd planned on and would definitely take Xander's nickname as 'the one who sees' to a whole new level.

All in all he was quite happy with how things turned out.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" Bellowed the Watcher Giles, who obviously had received one too many shocks to his system.

_Time to make with the answers, I guess. _He thought to himself with some reluctance before he uttered a fake cough in order to get everyone's attention.

"Short version of it, Ripper, is that Harris and Summers here now have the tools and the talent to give you a fighting chance against the First."

"Whistler!" Buffy growled before coming at him like she was going deck him.

Considering the kind of power she now had, he wasn't entirely certain she wouldn't succeed in knocking him clear out of the house.

"Easy there, Slayer! I know it wasn't exactly paradise over there but believe me when I say that compared to what my **former** co-workers had planned, it was definitely the better deal." Whistler said with his hands up in the universal posture for 'do not hit me'.

"What do you mean your **former** co-workers?" Giles asked snarkily, clearly only half successful in reigning in his anger.

"Well, ya see, a couple a years ago, I sorta got a promotion, a **BIG** one, and since then I've been helpin' to call the shots for the light." He said, knowing that it wouldn't take them long to connect the dots.

"Y-y-you mean t-the Powers That Be!?" Giles asked half as a question and half as an outburst of surprise.

"Got it in one, Watcher! Ya see, they planted the shadow caster in yer emergency stash here and were all set to send Summers back to see the Shadow Men." He replied, keeping an eye on the people most capable of knocking him around, "Before you ask, the Shadow Men are the sorcerers that created the first Slayer hundreds of years ago. If things had gone the way my former colleagues had wanted it, Blondie here would either have been made more demon than human or been scared into doing something seriously stupid."

"How stupid?" Xander asked, now entering the conversation with a more or less neutral tone of voice.

"Stupid as in activating every potential Slayer on the face of the planet at once," Whistler replied honestly, deciding that beating around the bush wouldn't be a good idea.

"How's that a bad idea? If there were more Slayers then none of them would have to be alone anymore." Willow said, proving with that statement that even geniuses could occasionally ask stupid questions.

"Simple Rosenberg. How many Potentials do you think come from decent families? How many of them do you think are livin' on the streets?" He asked rhetorically casting his gaze over everyone present, "With the Watchers Council pretty much crippled and the majority of its field agents dead, how long do ya think it'd take for you to find them all? A year? Ten years?"

He could see the point he had been trying to make sinking into their heads as they realized the danger with activating that many potentials at once without a system for dealing with them. With the Council gone, there'd be no way to get to all the Potentials in the world to tell them why they could now toss furniture or bend crow bars. That'd lead a lot of them down the right path or make them vulnerable to demons who'd consider even an untrained Slayer to be a trophy kill.

"So what do you want us to do now?" Summers asked in a tone that, while not openly hostile, didn't exactly speak of much trust in him or his motives.

"I want you to do what you've always done up 'til now. Fight the good fight on your terms an' no one else's." He replied, knowing that she probably expected him to start dishin' out orders.

"While the upgrades and the ninja know how we picked up will help a lot, it still leaves us pretty much where we started before me and Xander went dimension tripping." Summers said with a face that spoke of her dislike of the current situation, "We still have nothing to work with but a bunch of amateurs and a core group of people who haven't fought a battle like this **ever.**"

"Hey!" Kennedy exclaimed in anger at being called an amateur.

"No, she's right, Kennedy. In terms of skill and experience, every Potential in this house is an amateur." Xander said with complete honesty and certainty.

"Xander, that's not fair! Everyone here's doing their best to help out and get ready." Willow said with some shock in her voice at how her bestest friend was now siding with Buffy.

"I never said they weren't, Willow, but that doesn't change the fact that these girls aren't much better than we were six and a half years ago. You remember how much trouble we had just taking on a fledgling vampire?" Harris asked rhetorically before continuing with his statement, "The First has Bringers, regular vamps and the uber vamps and those are only the things we know about so far. For all we know, it could be calling dozens of different demons to Sunnydale as we speak and all of them just as deadly, if not more so, than a super vamp. Do you honestly think we're ready for that?"

"No, but with a little work, ya can be." Whistler said smiling at how his two top picks were shaking things up and taking charge, "You can train these girls in the way of the ninja like back in Konoha. It'll take some doin', but it should be worth it in the end."

"What are you talking about, Whistler? Even if Xander and I start training these girls now, it'll take years just to get them up to genin level." Summers inquired, obviously not sensing the changes he'd made after she and Harris had left.

"Actually, chakra-wise, they're almost ready for the chuunin exam right now, thanks to yours truly." He said before taking a dramatic bow towards a definitely not clapping audience, "After the two of you left for that other dimension, I popped in and juiced up their chakra levels quite a bit so they'd be ready when you got back. You won't have to worry about nasty side-effects either, 'cause I made sure that their bodies could sustain the increase as well so it'd be like they'd earned the right way. All you two gotta do now is show them how to use it."

This shocked both ninja but he could tell that they weren't exactly convinced that what they'd been through had been worth it.

"Even with that much chakra, it's going to take a while to get them up to speed, a couple of months at least, and I doubt the First is going to miss a dozen teenage girls hopping rooftops." Xander said, looking a little more hopeful but wanted to make sure all the bases/possibilities were covered.

He was about to tell them about his last gift when he felt the first signs of the prison he'd placed his former co-workers in beginning to fail. He knew that the second that lot was free, they'd rain holy fury on his ass and probably try an' undo what he'd accomplished. That meant he had to leave in the next minute or two and get to the Big Cheese if he wanted to keep from getting wiped out of existence.

"Then look in yer basement and I think you'll like what you see." He said before beginning to turn away, "I gotta go now. A lot of people upstairs aren't exactly happy right now but I got one last card to play. See ya 'round, Slayer!"

With that he teleported out of the Summers home and did his best to make it to his one chance for sanctuary from his now no doubt irate former co-workers.

&

_**Nine Weeks Later, Inside The Vineyard, Night**_

_Here they come! All those dirty girls thinkin' there so righteous. _Caleb thought as he watched the enemies of his Master gradually enter the kill zone, _It will truly be a sight to behold when I show them the strength of the Master that flows through me._

He waited until all of the heathens were too far away from the stairs for a quick retreat to be possible before he cued the minions and watched them attack. Seeing how the little whores moved, he knew his Master was truly all seeing for, just as the First had told him, these bitches were amateurs at best. There was no strategy in their moves, no fluidity, it was little better than watching a street gang go at it in the middle of L.A. Still, they were doing better than he'd thought against the Bringers, not getting more than scratches on their sinful bodies. He let this go on for awhile before he decided it was time to make his grand entrance and then his grand impact in order to show these tarts just who truly had the power. With a single gesture to the minion at his side, the attack was called off and those Bringers that had been fighting withdrew into the shadows. Taking this as his cue, he strolled into the light as casual as can be like he didn't have a thing to fear from these heathens.

"Well, now, you girls are just burning with righteousness, aren't you? Problem is, you think you're blazing like suns, when really you're burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness. You having fun?" He asked with great insincerity and confidence, "Now, I hope my boys haven't worn you out too much—I need you fit for when I purify you."

"Save the sermon, padre." Snapped the short blonde the First had often shown him, "I heard you have something of mine."

_Oh, how foolish and stupid this one is!_ He thought as he walked closer to her, _It confounds me how she has managed to survive as long as she has._

"Well, I do now. You liked my little message, did you? You know, I ruined a perfectly good knife on that girl. Got her soiled blood all over the place. I may have to get a new truck." He said, making it clear he was more concerned about his truck and his knife than the fact that he pretty much gutted the girl, "So, you're the slayer. The slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind—the notion of goodness. The slayer must indeed be powerful."

With the speed and strength bestowed unto him by his Master, he lashed out and punched the whore on the jaw, sending her flying across the room and into a wall.

"So, what else you got?" He asked smugly as he waited for the rest of the bitches to start panicking and recklessly attacking him.

However much to his surprise and bafflement, none of those among the enemy group looked worried in the slightest, nor were making any move to attack. This did not make sense to him as he had just swatted aside their strongest warrior as though she were naught but a child. They should be terrified of him, their insecurities should be robbing them of their ability to think straight, but instead they were merely looking at him with determination in their eyes. It wasn't until he heard the sounds of someone getting back to their feet from the direction he'd sent the strongest Slayer in that he got his first hint as to the cause of this irregularity. There, getting up like she'd just slipped on a patch of ice, was the blonde Slayer, looking like nothing had happen despite the power he'd placed in his blow.

"Lookin' for some more punishment, whore?" He asked with a sneer, unwilling to give up his position of dominance.

"Won't be much of a punishment if that's the best you got." The Slayer said after rubbing her jaw a little, "As for what else we've got, you're about to get your answer. Girls! It's showtime!"

With those words, all the little trollops began to remove the coats they'd been wearing and discarded the cumbersome weapons they'd been using up until he'd strolled onto the stage. Wrapped around their sinful bodies were jackets with various pouches and compartments built into them. Strapped to their hips were more pouches that clearly contained the weapons they had chosen to hold in reserve. This virtually destroyed what little concern had been trying to appear within him because there was no way that something small enough to fit in those things could hurt him. However it was when each and every one of the girls put on an odd headband that he wondered what had inspired them to do all this. The headbands were blue and had a solid curved metal plate incorporated into it with a symbol carved into the metal. It was a carving of a sun with a cross to the right of it and a sword on the other side. He supposed it was their version of the armbands the Nazis wore back in World War Two or the red crosses that had been worn by the Templars. In the end, it didn't matter to him because a change of weapons and some silly little club headbands wouldn't be enough to stop him and his Master.

"Well, I hope this show's got a lot of screaming and dying." He said with a playful voice, "An' if it don't, then I guess I'll just have to."

"The only one screaming and dying here will be you and the Bringers." The Slayer said as she strode right back up to him, lookin' like she was about to kick his ass.

He was about to laugh at the absurdity of it all when, faster than anything he had seen in his entire life, she brought back a fist and slammed it into his chest. PAIN! A pain that soared, then faded and then soared again was what he knew the second the punch hit and for the first time since the battle began fear whispered into his ear. However he had no time to catch more than a word before perceiving an incoming attack and rolled to the side just in time to avoid an axe kick that could well have killed him. Scrambling to get back to his feet, he was now convinced that he could no longer afford to play around with these whores. Looking about the cellar, he could see every last one of them whores tearing into his Bringers like they were a bunch of village idiots.

THIS WASN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!

&

_**Same Place, Same Time, Xander's Perspective**_

"Rona! Crouch and arch!" Xander said as he used his Byakugan to full effect to dance around the Bringers while delivering damage with Juken to their internal organs.

Just like they'd practiced in the gym Whistler had turned the Summers family basement into, Rona immediately went to her knees, arched backwards and stabbed a Bringer than had been sneaking up on her from behind. Using his kekkei genkai to take stock of the situation rather than focus it only on those people immediately around him, Xander was proud to see that the Potentials were doing so well. When they had initially begun to train them, he had been doubtful that they could get them all up to snuff so soon even with all the mystical bells and doo-dads Whistler had given them. In Konoha, the average kid signed up for the academy around eight or nine and didn't graduate until they were twelve years old. Even then there was the possibility of them being sent back to the academy if they didn't pass the test set out by their Jounin teacher. That was about three to four years of solid teaching at the academy before the students were even considered low class ninja. Thanks to Whistler's transformation of the basement, though, they were able to squeeze nearly twice that amount of time into the past nine weeks, putting each of the girls on a level that would make them fine candidates for the chuunin exam.

_Looks like we might actually owe the guy a thank you, if we ever see him again._ He thought as he evaded a slash from a Bringer and delivered a double Juken palm thrust to the former human's chest.

"Xander! He's heading your way!" Came Buffy's cry and immediately he reoriented himself on her position and saw Caleb running in not only his direction, but also the direction of the stairs.

With his Byakugan eyes, he could easily see that Buffy's Tsunade attacks had done some serious damage to the enforcer of the First. Numerous bones were broken and there were internal injuries, but whatever the First Evil had done to juice this guy up was quickly repairing the damage. It would probably take about twelve hours for a complete restoration, but it would happen and, if he was allowed to escape, then the next fight could go considerably different then this one was. Taking up an aggressive Juken stance, he waited until the preacher entered the area of maximum effectiveness for his gentle fist style of fighting.

"Outta my way, boy!" Raged the Preacher as he brought his right arm back for a punch.

Zipping in, he delivered a three hit combo of Juken strikes targeting the enforcer's primary chakra nexus points, since they would mostly likely be fatal. With speed and precision found only in the Hyuuga clan, he not only managed to evade the Preacher's attack but also hit all three points as though the killer were standing still. However this time the surprise was on him because instead of collapsing to the ground dead, the monster minister merely staggered backwards with a bit of black blood dripping out of his mouth. Looking more closely with his all-seeing white eye, he now saw that the demonic energy coursing through the Preacher was not only flowing through the body but also reinforcing it, thus making damaging internal organs quite difficult. Fortunately for him, his time as a member of the head house of the Hyuuga clan had afforded him some extra skills only taught to members.

"Outta muh way, asshole!" Blurbed out the evil Minister, who still looked ready to kill despite how bloodied up he was.

"Not a chance. It's over. You are within the range of my Divination." He said as though the battle were truly over for his opponent, "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!!"

With that he assumed the stance for a technique that, under normal circumstances, was known only to the top members of the Hyuuga head family. Fortunately for him, the Lord Hyuuga who had chosen to fulfill his dying brother's last wish had meant every word when he'd declared that Hiroki Hyuuga would be treated as a member of the head family. That included teaching him/Hiroki techniques kept secret except to those who ruled over the entire Hyuuga clan. So, with great speed, he rushed in and began the first part of his plan to bring down the Preacher.

"Two Strikes!" He declared before jabbing in two spots on the Minister's body at the right hip and the top of the rib cage.

With the tempo set, he proceeded to rain down blows on the tenketsus on the Preacher's body. Four strikes, then eight strikes, then sixteen strikes, then thirty-two strikes before, finally, he completed the technique with sixty-four confirmed strikes. Seeing the man fall backwards to the ground, Xander knew that his efforts to disrupt, if not outright stop, the flow of demonic energy throughout the enforcers body had worked. Without being able to circulate through the Preacher's body, it would only be able to heal those areas in close proximity to itself. Even then there would be a limit to the amount of healing that could be done with the demonic energy in the immediate area. In short, the maniacal minister was now only slightly more resilient than a normal human male. Exhaling to calm himself down after such an intense series of strikes, Xander smiled when his Byakugan picked up someone approaching at high speed.

His smile only grew when he watched Buffy leap as high as the cellar ceiling would allow her before executing the Painful Sky Leg jutsu right onto the menacing minister's head. The resulting splatter and damage to the floor of the cellar grabbed just about everyone's attention, whether they be Potential, Bringer or souled vampire. For a moment it looked like the Bringers would fight on, but that only lasted until Kennedy showed off her skills with projectile weapons, hitting twenty Bringers in fatal areas in ten seconds. After that the Bringers knew they were beat and without the presence of their Master's enforcer, there was nothing keeping the more intelligent among them there to face the unforeseeably strong enemy. From there it was pretty much a mop up operation and, much to the happiness of all, their side only incurred minimal injuries that could be fixed up with a basic first aide kit rather than a trip to the hospital.

"Well Buffy, I think this pretty much settles it." He said with a smile that was all Harris rather than Hyuuga, "We are the **MOST** kick ass warriors on the Hellmouth!"

Buffy however was ignoring him in favor of looking down at the foot she'd used to kill the enforcer of the First.

"Eeewwww! I got Preacher all over my foot!" she declared before trying to shake off the blood, grey matter and bone bits off her foot.

_My hero!_ He thought with a roll of his eyes after deactivating his Byakugan.


	27. The Brother You Never Knew You Had

"The Brother You Never Knew You Had" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"The Brother You Never Knew You Had" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I am making no money off of this so a law suit would be beneficial to no one. That means take your hands away from your cell phones Mr. Executives.

Note: I realize I said that I would not post another entry into my 'Dreams and Ideas' fanfic until after I had completed at least two of my in progress fanfics. However after reading the majority of the fanfic Willow Destine a plot bunny popped into existence demanding that I write something about it. Therefore I have decided to exercise the right of an author to perform emergency deviation from established plans in order to get the carnivorous demon plot bunny off my back.

To those of you who are worried that this will cause me to fall back into old habits you are worrying for nothing. This is just making use of the pressure valve on my creativity engine so I can focus more on the fanfics that I have chosen to center my attention on: Black Wing, Divergence, A World of Difference and A Distant Relation. Once one or two of the annoying new plot bunnies have been satisfied I can resume work on these four stories and get them finished. So be patient my loyal fanfic readers.

Now on with the show…

_The Brother You Never Knew You Had_

_**Bar Harbor, Maine, Sunset**_

_It's not much but it is more promising than the other leads I have been handed up until now._ Petros Xanatos thought as he drove out of the city towards his county home, _I don't know why I chose to start this up again. It was dead end after dead end before. Little reason to believe it'll be any different this time._

In the end he supposed it had to do with the birth of his grandson Alexander and the surprising influence it had on reigning in David's more questionable nature. Up until that point, the relationship he had possessed with his son had been strained, to put it mildly. It was simply that their two views on the good life were in complete conflict with one another. He was a simple man with simple tastes who was quite satisfied with the life of a fisherman. David, on the other hand, had been, and to a degree still was, determined to live a life worthy of note and recognition by the entire world, first by becoming richer than any man really needed to be in order to get by in this world, and then by doing one newsworthy thing after another. It bothered him that his son had to make a spectacle of himself like that but, after so many arguments and ill chosen words, both of them had decided to just accept that the other would never change.

Now, though, it looked like David was finally ready to settle into fatherhood and that responsibility would prompt him to think twice about any scheming he might consider doing. There would still probably be a few more questionable events, especially since he had a feeling that it had been him who had rescued the gargoyles from the police, but he would trust that his son would be a little more discrete this time around.

For him, though, he would be taking up a search that he had all but abandoned thirteen years ago. It had been after one of the more explosive arguments he'd had with his son about the direction David had decided to go in. He had been drowning his sorrows in a local bar, mourning the slow death of his familial relationship with his son, when a stranger had sat down uninvited at the same table. He chuckled a bit at the memory of how he'd tried to politely tell her to leave him alone or find another table to sit at. Throughout it all, she had simply smiled at him and asked if he wanted to tell her what happened with an offer of how to make him feel better. At the time he had thought her some sort of prostitute but the clothes she had been wearing were more respectable than the women he occasionally saw on street corners at night. Nor did her face seem overly covered by make up and cosmetics in order to meet with what the times considered a beautiful woman. In the end, he had come to the conclusion that she was an average person who simply chose to stick her nose into his business without permission. Things had gotten heated between them, almost to the point where the bar owner would have asked them to take it outside, then in one act she silenced both his voice as well as his anger.

She kissed him.

It had been almost fifteen years since he'd ever been kissed by a woman, ever since his beloved wife passed away, and while he would never forget his spouse the strange woman's action hit him like the mother of all waves. From there they began talking in a more civilized way and he gradually became willing to let her know about the difficulties he was having with his son. She consoled him and helped him to realize that while he may never approve of his son's lifestyle David was still his son where it mattered. From that point onward their relationship grew from simple acquaintances, to friends and eventually they fell in love in a way that was both similar yet completely different from the kind he felt with his wife. He was happy, happy like he had not been since his darling wife Alexis had passed on, and within a year the most joyous thing happened.

Jessica LaFayette became pregnant by him.

It was a wonderful time for him and not a day went by that they didn't discuss the grand future that awaited the two of them once the child came into the world. However, there had also been an undercurrent of apprehension and fear in her eyes when she thought he wasn't around or looking at her. He asked her about it a few times, but she always brushed him off saying that she was just worried about something she saw on the news or about how they'd be able to support their child. He had never completely believed her but saw no reason to press the issue with her since he believed that she would tell him the truth eventually. However, in her seventh month of pregnancy, the worst thing he could ever conceive of happened as well as the most baffling.

She disappeared without a trace and without a single word to him.

For a full week he talked to everyone they knew as well as the employees at every means of leaving the city that she might have used, but no one had seen anyone matching her description since the day she disappeared, nor did the police find anything suspicious when he filed a missing person's case with them. For three months the police pursued the case with due diligence but, in the end, they were forced to call of the search reducing their efforts to simply putting Jessica's statistics with the national registry of missing persons. He, however, refused to give up and spent every moment of free time he had after his duties as a fisherman to look for her. He was no Sherlock Holmes by any means but, with some help from a retired private investigator who lived in town, he slowly learned the basics of the trade. Together they sought Jessica using every resource at their disposal and, for three years, he sought out any sign of where the woman who carried his child had gone. However in the end even he had to admit that their efforts were getting them nowhere and Dixon himself judged the odds of finding her to be between slim and none. It had been a painful time in his life and not a day went by that he didn't wonder if he had given up just a month, a week or a day short of finding that one crucial clue.

_Now though, in seeing my son experience the joy of his firstborn, I feel I have finally regained the resolve to seek her out once more._ He thought as he turned off the main road and onto the dirt one that led to his home, _I __**will**__ find you Jessica and this time I will not let you go!_

However it was not to be for, just as his home came into sight, an explosion rocked the road he was on easily within ten feet of him. So potent was the shockwave that he had to fight to keep his truck on the road and while he managed to do so this seemed to only provoke the cause of the first explosion. While no stranger to icy roads, even he was at his wits end as to how to keep his vehicle under control and so it was that with a trio of explosions the truck was knocked into a series of fast paced rolls. Over and over again the truck did roll tossing him about the cabin with only random chance letting him do anything to lessen the damage that was being inflicted upon him. However, lessening did not mean preventing as pain lanced up his leg and he lost feeling in his right arm that some part of his mind told him was **not** good. Fortunately for him, the Fates took pity on him allowing his truck's impetus to finally die out and causing the vehicle to finally come to a complete stop. However it was only a small bit of mercy for with the fading of coherency of mind he knew that he was hurt very badly. In all likelihood, unless someone happened to come to see him in the next few hours, he would die never having fulfilled his promise and never experiencing the joy of watching little Alexander Fox Xanatos grow up.

It was with these thoughts, a mix of regret and sorrow, that the blackness of unconsciousness took him and a single tear trickled down his blood soaked face.

&

_**New York City, The Aerie Building, The Board Room, One Day Later**_

_Oh the burdens of running a corporate empire!_ David Xanatos thought as he listen to one of his division heads drone on about the latest developments, _Funny how they leave this part out whenever they depict the life of wealthy C.E.Os in the movies._

Still, he did his best to keep his poker face in place so as not to let on how truly bored he was and how he was only catching every other sentence. While some might consider this sloppy of him, he knew that Owen was taking mental notes in the corner and would relate all the important facts to him later. It was one of the perks at having an aide de camp who was even more meticulous than Halcyon Renard's own Preston Vogel, which was quite an accomplishment. Not that he was letting his second in command to run the entire company while he indulged in the benefits of being filthy rich, but for tedious things like this it was necessary. He was just about to try and bring Mr. Manheim's report to a swifter end when he heard Owen's cell phone go off, prompting the blonde man to swiftly answer it. This by itself was not very odd since many people called him every day for one reason or another but, thanks to his legions of underlings, only the most pressing got forwarded to Owen's personal cell phone. Only patience would determine whether or not it was an emergency or simply an annoyance that had managed to bully its way one step shy of the top.

It was when he heard Owen begin to talk in hushed, clipped, tones that he realized it was most definitely the former possibility and that robbed Manheim of any attention his boss might have bestowed upon his presentation. Three minutes later the call was concluded and Owen approached him in a pace that for most would have been considered brisk but, to those that knew the right hand man of David Xanatos, it was a sign of great concern. Within moments his friend and confidante was at his side and, when the glasses-wearing man bent down to relate his information, the C.E.O of Xanatos Enterprises knew it was of the utmost urgency.

"Mr. Xanatos, I regret to inform you that your father has been in an accident." Owen said with traces of true concern lying just beneath the surface, "He is seriously injured and currently undergoing surgery at a local hospital."

This one bit of information succeeded in doing what even a meeting between Demona and Fox's father could not do in that it shattered his infamous composure completely.

"Owen! Get the private jet ready **immediately**!" He ordered as he got up from his chair at the head of the table and headed to the door of the boardroom, "I want it ready for take off the instant we arrive. Cancel all of my appointments for the foreseeable future."

"At once, Mr. Xanatos." Owen replied before he began to follow his employer while dialing up the local airfield.

"B-b-but Mr. Xanatos! The meeting!" Babbled Mr. Manheim, who obviously realized a little too late that he should have kept his mouth shut.

"There are some things more important than business, Mr. Manheim." He said in a voice that could have frozen molten lava, "I suggest you remember that or I will be forced to terminate your contract."

This shut the division head up so fast the terrified man might well have cracked a tooth in the process. Of course this mattered little to the C.E.O of the company since he was already out of the room and heading to the bedroom to pack. All the while he was walking down the hallways of his home and corporate headquarters, he was thinking of his father. What sort of accident was it? What was his father's current condition? Those were the sort of questions that battered his consciousness as he entered the bedroom to find his wife Fox and their son playing on the bedroom floor. For a moment the sight warmed his heart but it lasted for but a moment before the current state of his father returned to his consciousness. Without hesitation, he immediately went to the closet and began to pack the essentials that he'd need for at least a week in Bar Harbor.

"David? What's wrong?" Fox asked, almost immediately sensing that something was wrong with her husband.

It was that one question that stopped him in his tracks and caused him to sit down on their bed as the gravity of the situation finally hit him.

"My father's been in an accident. He's in surgery at the moment." He replied no louder than whisper and feeling no stronger than one either.

"Oh David!" Fox gasped as she picked up her son and rushed to her husband's side, "What happened?"

"I don't know. However I guarantee you I will find out." He said before cold steel entered his voice, "And should I find that one of my business rivals is behind this, I will make it my business to bury them!"

With that said, he and his wife began packing for their trip, knowing that every moment counted in situations like this. Once he arrived at the hospital and got a better grip on the situation, he'd personally make sure that his father received nothing but the best medical care his fortune could buy. If a specialist in Russia was required, then that specialist would be in Bar Harbor, Maine within twelve hours, one way or another. If there was some sort of experimental treatment that hadn't yet passed clinical trials, he'd be sure to obtain the specifics so it could be used to heal his father. NOTHING would prevent him from seeing his father well again, even if it meant going to Avalon itself to bargain with his mother and father in law.

_Hopefully, though, it won't come to that._ He thought since at present he wasn't exactly on good terms with the Lord and Lady of Avalon.

Still, it bothered him greatly that now, when there was still so much left to do, his father was teetering on the edge between life and death. It had been no secret between the two of them that neither he nor his father were particularly close but, after the birth of his son, he had begun to see what his father meant by the importance of familial closeness. In the weeks that followed the birth he had begun to lay down the groundwork for a closer relationship with his father. Now, though, if Fate chose to be particularly cruel, he might never get the chance to undo the damage he had done through his own selfish ambition.

_Hang on father! I'm coming!_ He thought as he slammed a suitcase shut.

&

_**Five Hours Later, Bar Harbor, Maine, Mount Desert Island Hospital, Fox's P.O.V**_

_This is tearing David apart inside._ Fox thought as she watched her husband's reaction to the doctor's full diagnosis of his Father's injuries.

It had been five hours since her husband had received word that his father had been in an accident and only one since they had arrived at the hospital. It had taken about thirty minutes before the doctor that had been in charge of Petros' surgery became available but, eventually, the aged man did come to explain the situation. As minute after minute passed and the doctor revealed the extent of the elder Xanatos' condition, she began to wish that the healer had never approached them. From what the surgeon was telling them, the injuries to the old fisherman were not good and neither was the prediction of whether or not the local resident would make any sort of recovery, much less a full one. Naturally, David began to question (or perhaps interrogate would be the better word) the doctor on what precisely would be needed in order to increase his father's chances at a full recovery. Initially the doctor tried to tell the C.E.O of Xanatos Enterprises that they were already doing everything they could but, after a few choice words about the man's future employment at the hospital, a few possibilities were submitted.

"It'll be alright, David. Your father is just as stubborn as you are and he won't go down without a fight!" She said in an effort to lift her spouse's spirits as best she could.

"I know. I know." David said, sounding only marginally better than he did beforehand.

It was this that hurt her terribly to see David like this. She hated to see a man who once stood toe-to-toe with the Lord of the Third race reduced to something more approaching an ordinary man. However, while her knowledge of medicine was probably not much better than his, she knew a bad diagnosis when she heard one. Multiple bone fractures, in some cases bones were completely crushed, as well as damage to several major organs. According to the surgeon, they'd done as much as they could in one session but that Petros would need time to regain some of his strength before he could safely go under the scalpel again. While the surgeon had tried to appear optimistic, especially once her husband put the fear of God into him, her time as an actress allowed her to see past the surface. The doctor's optimism didn't rate higher than her son's shoe size and, despite some flickering embers of hope when the more experimental procedures were mentioned, unless some sudden wave of good fortune came their way, David would lose his father and that loss would hurt her husband greatly.

_Desperate times call for desperate measures!_ She thought as she chose to utilize a resource she hoped wouldn't have too many strings attached to it.

"David? Would you mind holding onto Alex for a while?" She asked as she passed her son to his father, "I need to make a trip to the little girl's room."

Without protest her husband took their son and, with as much casualness as she could manage, Fox made her way to the ladies washroom down the hall. Once inside, she quickly assessed the room, looking to see if anyone was in there with her, before locking the door behind her. She couldn't afford for anyone to see her try this and she had doubts that it would work if there were any unwanted spectators in range. It was untested, something she had seen during Puck's lessons with Alexander, but her memory was good enough that she felt she could make an attempt at it. Therefore, before her own misgivings concerning her idea took hold, she placed both of her hands upon the nearest mirror and began to chant.

"Mists between us vanish, barriers between us disappear." She said putting all her will into drawing upon what magic lay within her, "Form a connection for that is my wish, allow me to speak with one that I hold dear."

It was never easy when she tried to utilize the power that was her birthright as daughter of Queen Titania, but after she had almost lost her son to Oberon she promised herself she would not be so under equipped the next time. So, while the restrictions placed on the Puck required that he focus almost totally on Alexander's education, that didn't mean she couldn't sit in on a few of the lessons. The trickster of Avalon was quick to pick up on her intentions and frequently used her as an object example for his young student. True, the jester couldn't help but crack a joke or prank her for his personal amusement, but she was learning and that was the important thing.

Besides, she made him pay for it the next day when she went shopping and needed a pack mule for all her purchases.

As she felt the magic stirring within her, Fox did all she could to maintain a high level of concentration and thus maintain the integrity of the spell as the arcane energies did their work on the mirror. She knew she was going to feel the drain of using her magic an hour from now but, if there was even the slightest chance that her mother could help, it was a price she was willing to pay. With a ripple much like a disturbed lake's surface, her magic interacted with the mirror and, gradually, what she saw before her changed from her own reflection to the interior of a medieval castle. Then, as the image finished gaining definition and depth, she could also see that the spell she had cast had worked out perfectly for there, sitting on the throne about twenty feet from her, was Queen Titania. A smile was on the green skinned woman's face and it didn't take a genius to determine the cause. It had always been subtly mentioned in their previous discussions that her mother lamented the waning strength of her magic. In fact, it was a secret suspicion of hers that the attack by Oberon on the Aerie building was not only meant to allow Alex to stay with his parents with Puck as an instructor, but also to prod her into mastering what power she had. Still, her questioning of her mother of that could wait until later. Right now pursuing a possible means of helping David's father took precedence.

"Greetings, daughter. I see that you have managed to perform a communication spell successfully." Titania, aka Anastasia Renard, said with bits of pride in her voice.

"After the fifteenth try, yeah." She said, wanting to get the small talk out of the way quickly, "Look, I need to ask a favor of you mother. David's father is in the hospital and it doesn't look good. The doctor's don't look optimistic about his chances of surviving his injuries."

This earned a genuine expression of concern and empathy for the situation from her mother but, much like her daughter, the Queen of Avalon was quick to deduce the truth behind appearances. She just hoped that there was some loophole or sub-clause in Oberon's laws that would allow her mother to help just this once even if it came at a price.

"This is dire news you bring me, daughter. I presume that your favor involves aiding your ailing mortal father in law?" Titania asked with reservation in her voice that could only come from the restrictions placed upon her by her Lord and husband.

"I know that by Oberon's law you cannot interfere in the affairs of mortals, but I think your **husband** proved that his laws have a certain amount of flexibility to them." She said, unveiling the argument she had come up with right before she cast the communication spell, "Surely since Petros Xanatos is **family** through David, you can afford to bend the rules enough to save him."

"Were it my choice alone, daughter, I would gladly do all I could to heal my mortal brother in law." Titania said with true regret in her voice, "Sadly, Lord Oberon has since made amendments to the laws governing interaction with the mortal races, greatly reducing the ability of his children from 'bending' them for their own purposes. Though I hold some sway in the rulings of my husband, this is one matter that even I cannot disregard no matter how much I might wish to."

"But doesn't the fact that you're his queen mean that you are his equal in power, or at the very least are important to him?!" Fox asked, inwardly cursing Oberon for unknowingly covering his ass by amending the laws involving interacting with mortals.

"While I am stronger than all the other fair folk on Avalon, Oberon rules because he possess power superior to all, including myself," said the woman once known as Anastasia Renard. "I am sorry, my daughter, but without the permission of the Lord of the Isle, I cannot intervene as you wish."

For a moment she felt like tearing her mother a new one, ripping into her about everything the Third race has done to her family, but in the end she knew that the woman who gave birth to her was truly sorry about her inability to help. Much as her mother whispered in her ear before leaving the night of Alex's birth, the only way to defeat Oberon is to turn his own rules against him. Sadly, Oberon was quick to reduce his vulnerable spots when he sensed that someone was about to beat him over the head with his own laws. So if her mother truly believed that there was no way around the rules binding her, then it truly must be hopeless.

"Thanks anyway, mom." She said before she ended the communication spell.

With that done, all she could do was go back to her husband, console him as best she could and hope for the best for her father in law.

That and pray.

&

_**Five Days Later, Mount Desert Island Hospital, Petros Xanatos' Room**_

_**Point of View of David Xanatos**_

"I am sorry, Mr. Xanatos. There's nothing more we can do for him."

"The best we can do is try to make his final days as painless as possible."

Those were the words spoken to him by two of the top medical specialists on the planet, ones that he had flown in from across both the Pacific as well as the Atlantic in the hopes that their expertise would save his father from the dire wounds present on his body. However both, after only a day of examination of the relevant information, had concluded that the local doctors had indeed done all that was possible for his father. The wounds were from what the police were calling the detonation of previously undiscovered pockets of methane gas. Personally, the only gas he believed was involved was the vapor that existed between their ears and he fully intended to launch his own independent investigation to determine the truth. He refused to believe that a plot of land he had grown up on as a child suddenly decided to blow up when nothing like that had ever happened before. Gas pockets did not simply form underneath perfectly stable land, nor did they explode simply from someone driving over them. No, there was something more to this and he was going to get the bottom of it no matter what it took.

"D-David?" Came a weak and pain-filled voice from the bed before him.

Looking up from his contemplative position sitting by his father's bedside, he was shocked to see that his father was awake and that the one exposed eye was opened.

"I'm here, father." He said moving closer to his father before getting down on his knees before the bed.

"W-what happened?" his father asked, clearly unable to recall how he came to be in the hospital.

"You were in an accident. You're at Mount Desert Island Hospital." He replied grasping his fathers hand as gently as he could, "But don't worry! You're going to be just fine. I guarantee it!"

"H-heheheh…AGGHHH!" His father chuckled before a flare of pain, caused his face to scrunch up in pain.

"Father! Hold on I'll get the doctor!" he said before reaching for the emergency signaling button on the side of the bed.

"NO! N-no need, my son. I-it has passed." Petros said managing to somehow get his hand to grasp his son's firmly, "Besides, I doubt that there is anything they can do to prevent what is coming."

"Nonsense. You've always told me that the Xanatos family is made of sterner stuff than most people think." He said attempting to redirect the conversation towards topics that didn't involve his worst fear at the moment, "Just stay strong and let the doctors put you back together. You can't leave the fishes alone for too long, now can you?"

"I appreciate what you are trying to do, David, but we both know what is coming." Petros said in a solemn voice as he accepted his fate, "I have lived a good life, I have been blessed to have brought life into this world and to have a grandson thanks to you. I have but one regret that I am sad to say I will have to take to my grave."

"What is it? Tell me and I'll make sure that it's taken care of!" he said deeply disturbed by where things were going, "I promise. Anything!"

"I-I had hoped that I w-would be able to introduce the t-two of you myself, but now it seems you will have to f-find him yourself." His father said straining to get out what he needed to say, "You see you have a—AAAGGHHH!!"

Like last time, his father's face scrunched up in pain but unlike the previous flare of pain this one did not lessen after a few moments. Instead it seemed to get even worse as the seconds ticked by and it scared him to the point where he didn't hesitate to stab the emergency button. All the while the pain his father was going through tore at his soul and despite all the wealth he possessed it meant nothing to him right now. He'd gladly sacrifice his entire corporate empire if it meant his father would make a full recovery. However, if any wish granting gods or goddesses had heard his silent plea, they chose to ignore him completely. Whether that was because they didn't care or because they took pleasure in seeing him suffer such misfortune after so much good luck, he wasn't sure… nor did he really care. Almost without his noticing it, the hospital personnel entered the room and immediately went to work to try and alleviate his father's pain. The air was filled with chatter as more than four people tried to co-ordinate treating his father and reducing the pain that their patient was in. It bothered him to no end that all he could do was stand back and watch them work. He knew all too well that he was no doctor. HELL! He probably would barely have the qualifications to be an orderly much less anything else! So he clamped down on his feelings and allowed the doctors to do their work.

"D-DAVID!! **DAVID!!**" His father bellowed out despite the pain such exertion was no doubt causing him.

"Please, Mr. Xanatos! Calm down. You're only making your condition worse." One of the doctors said in an effort to get the elder Xanatos to stop straining himself.

"M-MUST T-TELL **HIM!!**" His father yelled as though desperate to accomplish one important thing before it was too late.

Compelled by his father's actions, David pushed a path through the doctors surrounding his father so he could get to his father's side.

"I'm here, Dad. What is it? What do you need to tell me?" He asked, determined to hear what his father had to say to him if only to allow his dad to calm down afterwards.

"D-David…I never told you this b-but y-you…have a y-younger b-brother." Petros said with every word seemingly a struggle to get out of his mouth at an audible level.

You could have knocked him over with a feather right then.

"I-I wanted to tell you …but…the truth is I d-don't know…where he is." His father continued to say heedless of the shocked expression on his son's face, "H-his mother…disappeared a-about two months before h-he would have b-been born. H-he'd be…a-about eighteen now assuming he's still alive…"

His father went silent after that, the exertion of speaking this much dragging him down bit by bit, but there was no way he'd let it end with **this**. He was going to hear it all as much for his own sake as it was for his father's state of mind.

"What was her name? Father!! Who is she!?" he exclaimed, heedless of the protests of the surrounding doctors at getting the patient even more worked up.

"H-her…n-name was…Jessi-ca LaFayette…" were the last words his father spoke before the monitors attached to him sounded the end of his father's life.

Forced out of the way by the doctors, David barely registered their presence as he dropped down into a chair by the door.

Three thoughts kept revolving through his mind again and again.

His father had been involved with another woman besides his mother.

That woman had disappeared eighteen years ago.

And somewhere out there he had a younger brother.

&

_**One Month Later, The Aerie Building, Private Office of David Xanatos, Afternoon**_

"What do you have for me, Owen?" David Xanatos asked as his right hand man approached him at the same the blonde man had for the past three weeks.

"I have been able to confirm that eighteen years ago, one Jessica LaFayette did live in Bar Harbor, Maine during the time period your father specified." Owen replied as he opened the file folder in his hand, "Using this as a foundation I attempted use the destinations of every means of public transportation that she could have used. However based on the files your father kept from his own investigation, it is unlikely that she used any of them when she left.

"I have also received back word from our contacts in the Federal government, as well as other institutions. According to them there is no sign of anyone matching Ms. LaFayette's description in any of their files around that time, whether it be under her real name or an alias." Owen reported even though he could see his employer getting more and more upset, "Nevertheless, by pursuing a more round about course of action, I believe I may have narrowed down the possibilities to one."

"To one?" David asked his friend wondering how the alternate self of Puck had managed to reduce the entire teenage male population of the USA to just one.

"Yes, sir. Using the fact that Ms. LaFayette was seven months pregnant at the time and notes acquired from her attending physician at the time, I have been able to estimate a probable time frame for your younger brother's birth." Owen replied putting the folder down on the desk in front of him, "Using this to narrow the search criteria, I ran a search on all male births that occurred within this time frame. Once a list of possibilities had been established, I then compared the personal statistics of Ms. LaFayette, thereby eliminating those that were too tall or too short to be her."

While he usually praised Owen for his thoroughness, the suspense at learning the location of his younger brother had him feeling rather impatient, "Get to the point Owen."

"Very well, Mr. Xanatos. Based on my extensive search, I believe Ms. LaFayette currently resides with your brother in Sunnydale, California. She changed her name to Jessica Harris and married one Anthony Harris not long after she would have given birth." Mr. Burnette said with a little annoyance at the explanation of his hard work being cut short, "Your brother's name is Alexander LaVelle Harris and he recently graduated from Sunnydale High School with slightly above average grades. However it was when I investigated further into his medical history in an effort to establish a DNA match that I discovered something… disturbing."

Not wanting to wait for his aide de camp to speak further, David picked up the file the blonde had laid down on his desk. Flipping through the surface files until he reached those that looked like they belonged in a hospital, he began reading in earnest. Before he read through even half of them, he was so thoroughly disgusted with his brother's foster father that a fierce desire to repay Anthony Harris for every injury took hold. However it was just before he was about to take action against this man whom he'd never met that he recalled what he had told Fox soon after she'd been released from prison.

'_Revenge, my dear, is a sucker's game_'

With great difficulty he reigned in whatever feelings of vengeance he might have had and, instead, began to think of a way to free his brother from such a detestable father. Looking the medical files over a second time, he was amazed that no one had called child services after so many suspicious injuries. While some could be written off as simple accidents consistent with a teenager's way of life, the majority of them could not be labeled as household accidents unless the attending physician was exceedingly incompetent. In fact, with the few pictures that were included in the file, he'd say some of them had been caused by severe beatings.

"While I came to the same conclusion as you, Mr. Xanatos, about the majority of young Alexander Harris' injuries there were others that were more exotic in origin." Owen said, as if sensing the direction his employer's thoughts were going, "Though considering the town he grew up in, he is quite fortunate to only have minor scars and but a few broken bones."

"Is there something special about this town, Owen?" He asked his major domo, sensing that this tidbit of information was coming from more mischief oriented sources.

"Indeed, sir. While Sunnydale might appear to be no more than a quiet Californian town, it is in fact a disguise for one of the most dangerous phenomena known to mankind." Owen replied with increased seriousness in his voice, "It sits atop a Hellmouth."

"A Hellmouth? What's that?"

"A location where the dimensional barrier between this reality and a rather unpleasant hell dimension is at its weakest. There are several such weak points all over the world but it is the one in Sunnydale is the most potent." Owen explained before going over to the viewer built into the wall and inserted a CD from his pocket, "As a result it tends to draw in various demons and black magic practitioners, making it rather hazardous to the health of uninformed local residents. Considering it has forty-three churches and twelve cemeteries, you can imagine what the current death rate is in this particular."

"I'm assuming that there is a reason why state and federal authorities haven't launched a full investigation into the area." He said, unable to keep his tone completely free of skepticism.

"Yes sir. For the past one hundred years, a powerful practitioner of the black and demonic arts has ruled over the town. Using a combination of spells and legal aide from the law firm Wolfram & Hart, he has managed to keep the truth about the town from spreading too far." Owen explained before bringing up a picture of a man who looked like your standard politician false smile and all, "However, given how most people tend to respond to reports of the supernatural and demonic, it is likely that the focus of his efforts has been to keep state and federal law enforcement from learning the truth. Without the support of the authorities, any local attempting to warn others would not be taken seriously.

"Thus it is something of an achievement that your half-brother has managed to endure for as long as he has. Although I believe I may have a theory as to why this is so, I will require more time to confirm it." Said Mr. Burnette, concluding his report.

"I look forward to hearing the results of your theory," he said, filing away this information for future reference. "In any case now that you have found my long lost half brother, I believe it is time for the two of us to finally meet. I am sure that it is what my father would have wanted."

"I have already taken the liberty of putting the company jet on standby at the local airfield, sir, and securing accommodations for you at a small rented property on the outskirts of the town." Owen said, shutting off the viewer in the wall, "Assuming weather does not become a factor or some unforeseeable business emergency, you could meet your brother in twelve hours."

"Excellent. I'm sure Fox and my son would welcome a short vacation to California." He said before closing the file folder on his desk.

"Perhaps, sir, but I believe it would be prudent to not have them stay near the Hellmouth for an extended period of time." Owen stated while employing an odd habit of cleaning his glasses, "While not immediately harmful to them, any person possessing even a small amount of fey magic within them will experience certain…complications if they undergo prolonged exposure to the Hellmouth's demonic energies."

While more than a little interested at this statement, it concerned his wife and child after all, but he could also tell from the resolve in Owen's eyes that it would be a Herculean task to get more information out of him. Therefore he decided that he would wait until a more appropriate time had arrived when he could afford to spend a day or two maneuvering his friend into a no escape position.

"Not a problem. Depending on how things develop, I don't think we'll be spending more than a month there at the most." He said as he proceeded towards the door to his private office, "It shouldn't take much any longer than that to ascertain just what sort of person my brother is, meet with him and then come to an agreement about the terms of our **unusual** family bond."

He knew he sounded a tad…impersonal about meeting his half-brother but until he learned more about Alexander Harris as a person rather than a collection of facts, it was the prudent course of action. After all, if Alexander the Lion turned out to be a completely despicable fellow, then their first meeting would also be their last. However, if the son of Jessica Harris (nee LaFayette) turned out to be someone he could come to like, then perhaps he would be willing to establish closer ties.

Only time would tell.

&

_**Sunnydale, California**_

_**The Next Day, Outside of the Harris Home**_

_**Early Afternoon**_

"Are you really going to go, Alex?" Jessica Harris asked from her position on the front walkway of the Harris home.

"You know I've been planning this for a while, Mom. I'm eighteen now and I've been saving up for this road trip for three years." He replied as he continued to pack things into the trunk of the car his Uncle Rory gave him, "I need some time away from this place in order to find out what I want to do with my life. To find out if I really am the worthless waste of space Tony keeps saying I am."

"Don't believe a word of what he says. He might be your father but the truth of the matter is that he's jealous of you." His mother said in a rare serious tone of voice that he almost never heard, "He looks at you and sees everything he's missed out on, everything he's not, that's all."

It was a position he knew all too well because it was often the same reason he came up with for why Tony beat him off and on every day of every week of every year. It was the only reason he could come up with that made any sense to him and gave some reason to why someone who should love him could be so despicable to him. However, in the depths of his soul, he knew that pieces of crap like Tony Harris didn't need reasons to act like assholes. They acted that way because they could, because no one stood up to them to put a stop to it, and that was all there was to it. Looking at his mother, though, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of resentment towards her as well. Not because of the things she did, because Jessica Harris always did what she could to make his life as tolerable as possible. She kept the fridge well-stocked with booze, worked her butt off trying to make ends meet since Tony couldn't keep a job and always let him know when the drunk was in a bad mood by wrapping a sock around the front door knob. No, it was more the things she didn't do that pissed him off. Why did she put up with Tony? It was clear that if they left Tony together, any money made could be put to better things than booze. Yet, no matter how many times he got the crap beat out of him or how many times he walked in the front door to find his mother sporting as new bruise, she never did a thing to stop it.

He wanted to believe that she had reasons but, for the love of God, he couldn't understand what reasons could be so important that they'd justify being subjected to a brutal hell like this day after day?

"Maybe, but I need to believe that myself before I can move past all that crap." He said before he slammed the trunk of his car shut, "I've already made a deal with Bobby at the liquor store to make sure you don't run dry of booze to pass to the slob. Keep him drunken off his ass and he shouldn't be able to do more than slur swear words every so often."

"Do you at least have that medallion I gave you on?" She asked with a tad more urgency then was the normal for her.

Sighing, he pulled the medallion from beneath his shirt to show her that he did indeed have the medallion on. It was something she'd given him on his fifth birthday back when things weren't quite so bad and Tony only got drunk after a really bad day at work. In the beginning, she had made him believe that it was a magical medallion that would keep him safe from the monsters under his bed. When he'd outgrown the idea of magic and monsters under his bed, she had told him that it was an heirloom of her grandfather's that was very important to her. Out of deference to the love he still had for her, he chose to honor the memory of his great grandfather and he wore it to this day, putting it on without fail every morning. When Giles had come to Sunnydale, he'd had the Watcher take a look at the medallion but all G-man could confirm was that it did possess shielding properties. Given how he was a complete amateur in the fighting department, he figured he could use all the protection he could get in order to keep from getting sent to the hospital every time he tried to help out. There had been a few times that he'd had to leave it behind when time was short and he had to rush to the aide of his friends, but for the most part he wore it as often as possible.

"Good. Now make sure you don't lose it on your trip or I'll mix a laxative with the first meal you eat when you get back!" His mother said with a smile he knew all too well, since it was one he often wore when needling Deadboy.

He was about to say something in reply to that, something about her cooking already made him and the bathroom good friends, but both of them were distracted when a black BMW that looked like it cost more than the city's repair budget pulled up. While most would have dismissed it as simply belonging to some city official, they were quickly proven wrong when the car came to a stop right in front of their home. This, of course, made him wonder if someone from child services or perhaps some hotshot lawyer had chosen to finally make an example of Tony Harris. This was somewhat supported when out of the driver's side front door emerged a man with blonde hair and glasses that looked like he was **born** with a rod stuck up his ass. The man, however, was definitely observant since the first thing he did once both feet were out of the car was survey the immediate area for trouble. Was he a bodyguard as well as a driver? However what really caught his attention though was that the moment the man wearing the glasses laid eyes on both him and his mother the driver went instant statue for a moment with surprise on his face. It was only for a moment though before the bodyguard walked around to the rear passenger door that faced the house and opened it.

Looking at the woman who stepped out first, it took him less than a minute to recognize her as Fox from that action TV show 'The Pack' that was on the air a little over a year or so ago. In her early thirties and still looking like she could make most high priced models look fat, he would have found reports of her having a child to be pure fiction if she wasn't holding a toddler in her arms. Still, either she shelled out a couple hundred thousand to get back in perfect shape or it was genetically impossible for her to be anything but beautiful. However, it was clear that she was not overly comfortable in such common surroundings and who could blame her, considering she probably spent most of her time in the lap of luxury. He knew he'd probably feel uncomfortable if he had to visit someone in the slums who lived out of a pieced-together shack. It wouldn't be that he thought he was better than them or anything, he'd be pulling a Harmony if he did, it was simply that his unfamiliarity with those people would make him nervous. One wrong word or move and things could turn very ugly, very quickly.

Next came a man that bore a vague resemblance to Jonathan Frakes but had obviously traded in the hotshot second in command mojo for the suave C.E.O package. Dressed primarily in shades of grey and black was a man who he knew only through his association with Fox (mostly because the man only showed up in NYC news and business oriented stories. He had a short attention span for that) was one David Xanatos, billionaire extraordinaire. He had heard through the grapevine that the billionaire had married the TV actress awhile back and had a kid with her but up until now he wasn't entirely sure it was the truth.

The real question, though, was 'why were they here' along with 'what did they want' and not necessarily in that order.

Fortunately they didn't have long to wait since, just like the bodyguard, the moment that Mr. Xanatos looked in the direction of him and his mother, he froze before examining them like a detective did a crime scene. It was not a look he liked in the least and, given that the rich in town often had strong ties to the demonic, Xander chose right then to treat them as potential enemies. With that in mind, he tried to covertly inch closer to his mother using what skill he inherited from his Halloween soldier memories. As he did this, Xander almost chuckled at his actions. Only moments ago he was thinking about how he had gone from resenting his mother and now he was taking up a position to protect her from potential harm. He guessed that no matter what happened, he couldn't help but feel at least some love for her because, unlike Tony, she actually felt some love for him. Thus, with observant eyes, he watched David Xanatos, Fox Xanatos and Mr. Rod-up-his-ass approach the two of them.

"Mrs. Harris? My name is David Xanatos and this is my wife Fox and my right hand man, Mr. Burnett. I've come here to discuss a matter of some importance." Mr. Xanatos said sounding quite polite and cordial, "However, it is also somewhat private, so perhaps it would be best to discuss matters inside."

"First of all, going in there right now would probably be the wrong thing to do, given who's in there right now." Xander said, sounding polite but with a hint of menace hiding in the background, "And if you want to talk at all, at least give us a reason why we should listen to you in the first place."

For a moment it looked like the rich man would refuse but, after Fox put a comforting hand on his shoulder, he seemed to cave on the issue.

"I am here on behalf of my father, who passed away recently. It was his last wish to find two people he desired to see a great deal." David explained with grief still in his voice, "His name was Petros Xanatos and the people he wanted to see was a woman named Jessica LaFayette and the other one was the child they made together. I've spent every day since his death trying to locate them and my search has led me here."

_O-kay! Definitely not what I was expecting when I asked for a reason!_ He thought as he tried to process this bombshell of a response, _Still, I think someone sold him some bad info 'cause the only thing connecting the Harris family to this LaFayette woman is that she has the same first name as my mom._

Turning to see what his mother had to say about this, Xander received the second largest shock of his life in as many minutes. Instead of the vaguely clueless and puzzled look he'd expected, Jessica Harris, his one-and-only mother, looked like her world had been obliterated in an instant. In fact the shock was so great that her legs gave out under her causing her to fall to her knees with only her subconscious commanding her arms to keep her from falling the rest of the way.

"Mom!" he exclaimed as he rushed to her side and did his best to support her since she obviously wasn't coherent enough to do it herself, "You alright?"

"P-Petros…is dead…?" muttered his mom as though that one thought was the only thing occupying her mind at the moment.

_What?! Does that mean Mr. Money Bags over there is telling the truth?!_ He thought to himself as he tried to understand what the **HELL** was going on.

So baffled mentally was he that he didn't even notice Mr. Burnett's approach until the stiff man was already on his knees next to his mother.

"If I may, Mr. Harris?" he asked looking for permission to diagnose Jessica Harris.

"The name's Xander, blondie. 'Mr. Harris' is the slob inside getting plastered." He replied before making a decision and nodding with permission, "Just don't try anything funny or someone else will be driving your boss for the next few months."

"Of course." Burnett said before he began to carefully and neutrally examine the still dazed woman in front of him.

It was only three minutes but when it was over and the glasses wearing man seemed to have concluded his examination.

"As I suspected. Lack of a proper diet combined with the shock has left her in a highly disoriented state." Burnett said before pushing his glasses up a bit further on his nose, "Rest would be the best treatment as well as a change in her eating habits. She should be put to bed immediately."

"Not exactly going to be easy with the slob in there drinking himself into a stupor. He tends to get loud and bully-like before finally passing out in the living room." He said, not liking the idea of trying to get past Tony while the idiot was still coherent enough to deal out a beating, "Besides, I wouldn't want you guys to get beer stains on those five hundred dollar clothes."

"If that is the case, then I will have to speak with Mr. Harris before you put your mother to bed." Owen said before getting back to his feet and heading towards the front door.

"Um…I wouldn't do that if—" he began to say not wanting the guy to get thrashed by that drunk of father he had but was stopped by the hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about Owen. He's a man of many talents." David Xanatos said with the utmost confidence in his right hand man.

For the next five minutes he waited, even though he thought that the rich man was making a mistake, but when the driver/bodyguard emerged he was virtually unharmed. The only sign that anything happened was a slight mussing of the man's impeccable hairdo and what could have been a stain of some kind on the cuff of his white shirt. Thinking back to all that his ears had taken in during the past five minutes, Xander tried to reconcile the silence that had existed with the struggle he presumed took place. Either this man was a complete master at hand to hand combat or he had some kind of stun gun in that suit of his with the knowledge of how to use it effectively in his head.

"Mr. Harris has seen the…wisdom of allowing us to pass unhindered." Burnett said with only a moment's pause to wipe most of the stain off his cuff, "It should be safe to escort her to her bed so she can get some rest."

"Fine. But I'll do it and then we'll go someplace **private** so you can tell me why you think my mother is this 'Jessica LaFayette'." He said in a tone that would not be denied by anyone, much less a rich C.E.O.

With that he helped his slowly recovering mother to her feet and, with one of her arms over his shoulders, he guided her into the house and up to her room. He didn't quite know what was going on but he did know that his mother was in no condition to handle any more shocks to the system. Therefore he would handle these people himself and hopefully get them to go away so he could go on the road trip he'd been planning the entire year. After all, he wasn't going to let some big shot with **way** too much time and money on his hands run his BMW through what passed for his life just for kicks. That was what rich people were after right?

&

_**The Espresso Pump, Downtown Sunnydale, Forty Minutes Later**_

"So let me get this straight. Eighteen years ago my mom went by the name Jessica LaFayette, had a 'relationship' with your dad, got pregnant and then pulled a Copperfield two months shy of giving birth. Is that about right?" Xander asked sounding like he was humoring the delusions of a crazy person.

"That's the abridged version, yes." David Xanatos replied looking at the young man who, for all intents and purposes, was his younger step-brother.

"And you think I'm that baby she was carrying?" Xander asked, sounding like he was seriously wondering about the sanity of the people he was sitting down with.

"It not so much 'think' as 'know', Xander." He said and with a gesture to Owen the blonde man produced a single sheet of paper from his briefcase, "Before my family and I came out here, I managed to acquire a sample of your DNA and compared it with my own. As you can see the test results are fairly conclusive."

He watched as his brother looked over the paper that Owen had passed to him and, as he watched the teenager, he tried to find similarities between Xander and his father. Their build was similar, though a bit leaner and the jaw had definitely come from Petros Xanatos without a doubt. Bit by bit he could see more and more of his father in the young man in front of him if only in physical characteristics. The most prominent and telling of the physical attributes were the eyes, the brown eyes, one's that could go from warm to ice cold in the blink of an eye. He saw similar eyes whenever he looked in the mirror and had seen similar eyes when he was younger on the face of his father. If the eyes were indeed windows to the soul, then he could tell looking at Xander Harris that the Xanatos fire did indeed burn inside of him.

"Well this looks authentic, but that doesn't mean much considering how much money you probably have to burn." Xander said, sounding like he was willing to give the whole scenario the benefit of a doubt, "But let's just say, for the sake of argument, that I believe everything you've told me from start to finish. What exactly do you want?"

It was the one question he had trouble answering himself.

What **did** he want from his younger brother?

His first response to this question was to get to know the teenager better and learn about Xander's life from the young man's own mouth. He had files and, in some cases, amateur video of what kind of life his father's youngest son had led the past eighteen years. It was a life of abuse at the hands of an alcoholic step-father, a life of loyalty to those people he considered friends and a life of courage fighting against the darkness. It had been a little hard to believe all the reports of Xander's adventures alongside the eldest Slayer on the Sunnydale Hellmouth. The town's ability to attract, generate and enhance the supernatural was beyond anything he had experienced himself after awakening Goliath's Clan. Almost as amazing as the past three years of Xander's life was the fact that, despite being the most normal member of the demon hunting group dubbed 'The Scooby gang', his brother had proven to be indispensable time and again. A normal teenage boy proving many times over that one didn't need special powers or knowledge to make a difference impressed him greatly. Learning all this and reviewing it now only made his first gut reply to the question all the more correct so he chose to make that his response.

"To get to know you better. I want to make you a part of my life." He replied, being more honest with those two senses than he had ever been with anyone aside from those close to him.

This was obviously not quite what his younger brother had expected if the slightly slacked jaw was any indication. No doubt his mind had been filled with news broadcasts, movies and various other media forms of the fabulously wealthy making the young man suspicious of anyone who fit the general profile of a wealthy person. Not that suspicion of such people was a bad thing because he knew all too well from personal experience that some of the wealthy elite of the world were monsters both in as well as out of the office. You had to be careful when dealing with them or you'd be lucky to make it away from the negotiation table with the shirt on your back. Hopefully, though, Xander would take his actions up until now into account rather than rely on the sensationalistic version of the rich and famous that the media liked to employ. To seal the deal, though, he thought it would be best to nip some of the concerns that were likely lurking in the young man's head at the moment in the bud.

"Look at this objectively, Xander. What could I possibly gain from a deception like this aside from you?" He asked, hoping that logic would defuse any mental bombs inside the young man's head, "From what I've learned, your family is lower middle class with your mother providing most of the income aside from your step father's unemployment insurance checks. You hold no position of influence that would be of use to me financially or in the corporate arena. Even your 'Scooby gang' would not be valuable enough for me to orchestrate such an elaborate charade."

"A Slayer, a wicca and a Watcher wouldn't be valuable?" Xander asked, not questioning that he himself wouldn't be of much use to any big shot schemes Xanatos might have.

"I already have an expert in matters pertaining to magic as well as demonology so that area is covered. As for Ms. Summers, she is but one person and is needed here more than in New York running **special** errands for me." He replied explaining clearly why he had no intention of using Xander to get to his friends, "After all, if the Hellmouth opens and the world does come to an end, it would be bad for my family as well as for Xanatos Enterprises."

This seemed to cause the gears to turn in his head and, for a few minutes, nothing was said on either side but their eyes never left one another for one second.

"I need to think this over. How long do you plan on being in town?" Xander asked in a voice that gave nothing away concerning what was going on inside his head.

"A week, possibly two, but after that we have to head back to New York." He replied, even though he was prepared to stay a month if necessary, "A C.E.O can only put off work for so long before problems start cropping up."

"Then you'll have my answer in one week." Xander said before getting up from his seat and walking away down the street before vanishing from sight.

For a time nothing was said between those that remained sitting at the table at the Espresso Pump but the silence was beginning to stifle him so he chose to break it.

"So what do you think Fox, my dear?" He asked turning to his wife, who was sipping a cup of tea in one hand while waving her finger in front of her son's face while the child lay in his car seat.

"The place makes a decent cup of tea. I think I'll try to get the blend recipe before we leave." Fox replied showing no sign of either humor or misunderstanding.

"Fox." He said with a tone that told her he was serious and wanted a serious answer.

"What do you want me to say, David? I've only just met the kid, so it's a little early to form an opinion of someone." Fox said, trying to lighten the mood somewhat for her husband, "Still, I can see the family resemblance and he's definitely got the Xanatos edge in him."

"Yes, he does." He said almost at whisper level as he recalled both the eyes of his younger brother as well as what Owen had been able to uncover about the boy's nighttime activities.

"However, the question becomes: how big a part of your life do you want Xander to be?" Fox asked her tone turning a bit serious but mostly curious, "Someone who's invited to Christmas dinner or just someone you send gifts to on their important days but never actually see that often."

It was a valid question.

Truthfully, he wasn't quite sure just how close he wanted to be to his brother. At first, when he had recovered from the loss of his father, it had just been a desire to give his father's spirit some closure. It had been Petros Xanatos' last desire to connect with his long lost child and most assuredly make Xander a part of the family in every way. So that had been his goal in the beginning but, as the prospect of meeting a brother became more real, a desire all his own began to manifest within him. A desire to learn more about the young man who shared his father's blood with him and perhaps to experience what it was like to **have** a brother in the first place. It was a unique feeling that had not dimmed one bit since he first laid eyes on the teenager of Sunnydale, but rather had grown at an enhanced rate. The young man was neither an abusive drunk nor someone who forgot his loyalties to those important to him making him better than both of the people who raised him. He realized it was a bit unfair of him to judge Jessica LaFayette (nee Harris), but without knowing the reasons surrounding her decision to vanish in her seventh month of pregnancy his mind was producing one worst case scenario after another.

_The only way to learn what really happened is to ask the woman herself._ He thought with a frown as he tried to speculate how hard it would be to get the answers he desired, _But it's anyone's guess whether or not she would open up to me seeing as how we've only just met._

In the end he decided that the only thing he could do was to wait until she trusted him enough to divulge the entire truth. For all he knew, she had perfectly sound reasons for disappearing eighteen years ago and, if that was so, his distrust of her would disperse like darkness at sunrise. For now, though, he would wait with his family at the cottage they'd rented on the outskirts of Sunnydale for his brother's answer.

&

_**Three Nights Later, Midnight**_

"Well then Alex shall we see if ol' Puck is right about the wrinkly Lady Jessica?" Puck asked his young charge as they flew across the starlit sky over the town of Sunnydale.

"Pucky, Pucky!" Was the response he got from the toddler that he held in his arms.

"Glad to have you aboard, Number One!" Puck said as the two of them reached the neighborhood the Harris' lived in.

He knew he was taking something of a risk using his true form on a Hellmouth and using Alex Xanatos so he could use that form in the first place. However he **had to** know whether what he had sensed three days ago was what he thought it was or just his overactive imagination. It had first made its presence known when they were on the approach to the Harris home for the first time. If he had to liken it to anything, it was like he had entered the range of a familiar scent that he had not smelled in a very long time. The scent had only gotten stronger as they got closer to the home and when he had finally laid eyes on Jessica Harris, he knew he had found the source of the presence. Looking at her, the sense of familiarity increased and he got his first hint as to the reason he felt like he knew her.

Her eyes spoke to him.

They were old eyes, the kind that none of the mortal races had, and that made him think that she might be a Halfling. If she was half human and half fae, then that would explain the centuries he saw in her eyes but it also raised the question of how she had survived on the Hellmouth for eighteen years. He spoke the truth when he had told David that prolonged contact with the energies from the Hellmouth was dangerous for someone with fey magic in the blood. For those that chose to endure a few years exposed to its demonic energy the Hellmouth tainted their minds, causing them to pay more attention to their darker natures. If those few years expanded past the six year mark, those with fey heritage generally began behaving more like dark mages or demons than a child of Oberon. Past the ten year mark was where things got to the point where most had to be put down, lest they draw unwanted attention upon the Third Race by humankind. While most of his family had the common sense to steer clear of Hellmouths and only visit if they absolutely had to, there had been a few rare cases of prolonged exposure. Those fools, like his brother Loki, thought they could prove their strength and resilience by pitting themselves against the cesspool of demonic energy. Suffice it to say that, after the idiot's numerous attempts to seize control of the Third Race or bring about an apocalypse, he had been chained down in a cave someplace until he came to his senses.

Considering it had been more than a thousand years since he'd seen his Norse brother, he didn't think Lord Oberon's plan of detoxifying Loki was working.

However, this fact only made it more odd that he could see very little of the degenerative effects of a Hellmouth in both Jessica and Xander. How had they accomplished this? There had been some discussion and experimentation on neutralizing the effects of the demonic energy on the Third race, but nothing conclusive had come of it. The one behind the experimentation had been Morgana Le Fay and, while she claimed to have come up with a way for fey to stay on a Hellmouth for centuries before needing to return to Avalon to recover, it had never come to fruition. After presenting her findings to Lord Oberon and Lady Titania in a closed meeting, all tests had been stopped. From that point on, all studies and experiments on the subject were forbidden under penalty of being completely stripped of their powers for eternity. No explanation was given but it was no secret that Morgana had not been pleased with this decision at all. There was even a rumor that gained strength from time to time that she continued her research in secret in defiance of the decree by the Lord and Lady of Avalon, but no proof was ever found and so nothing more than repeated warnings could be dealt to the fey woman. According to some of his siblings, she had dropped out of sight entirely two centuries ago with not one fey having seen her since then.

Could Jessica Harris really be Morgana Le Fay?

It would certainly make sense since she would possess the knowledge to stay atop a Hellmouth and not be corrupted by it. It would also imply that Xander was a Halfling like the little tyke in his arms. However he refused to speculate further on the matter until he had proof to substantiate his suspicions. Only then would he begin to make any choices concerning the futures of Xander and Jessica Harris.

Arriving at the Harris home, he decided that a little reconnaissance would be best since he had no desire to encounter the foul Tony Harris again. It had been disgusting enough the first time when he went into the beer stinking home to neutralize the drunk so Xander could take his mother to her bed unobstructed. Without magic, he had been forced to use hand-to-hand combat to render the fool unconscious, requiring him to actually come into actual physical contact with the filth.

Needless to say, he did not desire a repeat of that encounter.

Flying carefully around the windows of the house, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Tony 'that drunken asshole' Harris was passed out in a chair in front of the TV in the living room. Since Jessica was nowhere in the living room, he could rest easy from here on out. Without further delay, he zipped up to the next floor of windows and quickly made his way to where Jessica most likely was at the moment.

His plan was a simple one: teach little Alex how to circumvent any magical wards or barriers that might be in place then move on to some moderate level examination spells to see if his suspicions about the woman were accurate. If she truly turned out to be Morgana La Fey, then they would have to have a few words, not only about her son but also her defiance of The Gathering. It was no secret that if a Halfling or a full fey refused to return to Avalon of their own free will, then the Three were sent to drag them back to the Island. He'd heard that Banshee had to be dragged back the night Fox gave birth and got a metal clamp put over her mouth as punishment. Considering the bitch valued her mouth over everything else, it was a fitting punishment that she would not soon forget. How was it that Xander and Morgana managed to avoid their search efforts? It was a secret he wouldn't mind learning for his own future use.

Coming to a stop in front of the window of the master bedroom, he decided that it was time to begin little Alex's lessons beginning with ward and spell detection.

"Now this, little one, is one of the cooler detection spells that I know. It's a little advanced for you right now but I'm sure you'll master it if you work hard enough." He said before turning to face the window more directly, "A window is a doorway and a glass allows clear sight, bring forth that which is hidden and make it visible to my sight."

With a move that made it look like he was blowing chalk dust from the open palm of his free hand, blue mist sprang forth, enveloping the window for a moment before vanishing. After it had left, though, symbols and runes appeared in a complex pattern both around as well as on the window to the master bedroom. There was no clear Fey signature to the symbols or the way they were set out but whoever had put them there was a master magic user. In this configuration such potent symbols would make it impossible for lower level demonic riff raff to enter through the window. In fact it would take a magic user of equal skill or a demon possessing insane strength to break through it to get at the people inside. Fortunately for him, he had centuries of experience both in terms of human magic as well as Fey based mystic spells or abilities. It wouldn't be hard to dismantle these wards and protection spells. It'd be a bit of a stretch to make this a lesson for Alex, since the incantations he would use were unfeasibly far for the little tyke to learn.

Maybe he could this some kind of preview of things to come?

Teachers did that these days, right?

Using a spell that was required to be spoken in the tongue of the Fey, hence why it was a bit advanced for little Alex to use, he caused the symbols and wards to part like they were part of a curtain. The spell would only last for about five minutes but that would be more than enough time to get through and find out what he wanted to know. Flying through the window with child in arms, he figured it was smooth sailing from here on out.

The bands of arcane energy and iron based wire that shot out of nowhere to completely ensnare him proved otherwise.

It was then that he realized that the spells placed on the window were only the first level of protection and that there was a second that snapped into place when the first was swept aside. He hadn't expected such a complex set up from someone trying to hide their presence from searching eyes and, for his mistake, he'd paid the price. On the plus side, though, he had managed to use what magic he had to float little Alex over to a nearby chair before the wires or bands ensnared him completely. He was about to try and use his skills to free himself from his restraints when the sound of footsteps reached his ears from the other side of the room. Turning to see who it was, he saw that it was indeed Jessica Harris, as he had suspected, but given how she had not been in bed it could only mean that she had anticipated his little nighttime mission. Considering she had three days to work with, it was not very surprising that she'd manage to put all of this place.

_Hopefully, though, she'll be easier to chat up thinking she has me in a bind._ He thought hoping that this theory was correct.

"While I'm flattered that you set all this up for me, I'm afraid S&M games just aren't my thing." He said while testing the strength of the wires, "Now if you wanted to play a little strip poker then save me a seat!"

"Same old Puck. You're sense of humor hasn't improved even after eight hundred years." Jessica Harris said as both years and pounds evaporated from her form until she looked just like she had when she'd met Petros Xanatos.

This proved to him all the more that she was of the Third Race but, more than that, now that the years of time had been washed away he knew who she was.

"Well it's hard to improve on perfection, Morgana." He said as he looked into the eyes of his sibling with a smile on his face, "So what've ya been up to?"

"Oh, this and that. I've always had something to keep me busy." Jessica, aka Morgana, replied as she walked over to where Alex Fox Xanatos sat watching them, "Then again, I suppose the same could be said for you since you're training this quarter breed child. Did you volunteer or did Lord Oberon do this to you as punishment?"

"Why, I chose to become the little tyke's tutor, of course!" He replied, sounding like Oberon had been helpless before his choice, "When I laid it all out for Big Daddy Oberon, he just couldn't say no."

"In other words you pissed him off and this is punishment?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and a half smirk on her face.

_She always was too good at seeing through the bullshit. _He thought watching her pick up Alex into her arms.

"So tell me, what brings you and your mortal master to Sunnydale, Puck?" Jessica asked before letting little Alex play with her finger a bit, "I know he said that he was here to track me and Xander down, but is that all he's after?"

"Yep. Just wanted to obey his dear old dad's last wish and find you two." Puck replied, still covertly trying to figure out a way to free himself, "Though after actually meeting your bouncing baby boy, the whole 'big brother' thing might be growing on him a bit. He's probably thinkin' about inviting Xan-man to come back to the Big Apple for a few weeks as we speak."

This bit of info had the interesting effect of having Jessica actually look contemplative as well as thoughtful concerning the prospect of her son spending some time with his Big Bro. He guessed her hesitation about backing the idea from the beginning had something to do with her efforts to hide the two of them on the Hellmouth. Then again, he remembered seeing Davy's little bro filling up the trunk of some old clunker when they'd pulled up, so maybe she was actually okay with the idea. Searching his own mind for the potential obstacle that was messing with old Morgana's thought processes, he could only conclude that she was worried about Xander popping up on Titania's radar. He always figured that the Lady of Avalon kept tabs on her daughter and grandson, so if Xander popped up then it might be enough to prompt her to visit. In the end, though, he decided it would be best to just stop speculating and wait for his sister to pick up her end of the conversation.

"Very well. I will talk with Xander and try to convince him it would be a good idea to spend some time with his older brother." She said with a nod and a smile implying she supported the idea fully.

_Well I didn't expect __**THIS**__ to be her response!_ He thought, since he had predicted more negotiation and term stating before the former enemy of Arthur Pendragon would permit anything.

"Don't mistake my supporting this little 'brotherly bonding' session as complete support, Puck. I will expect you to do all you can to aid Xander should Lord Oberon or Lady Titania choose to pay your mortal master and his family a visit." Jessica said in a tone that would not be permitting compromise of any kind, "I have not spent the last eighteen years keeping him safe and giving him some semblance of a normal life only for them to drag him back to Avalon. If I find out that you did not do all you could to aid him, I will be **most** cross with you, Puck. I believe you know what happened to the last person whom I became **cross** with, yes?"

He shuddered at that memory remembering all too well what happened to the last child of Oberon who pissed off Morgana Le Fay. It was still talked about among their siblings to this day and he had no wish **WHATSOEVER** to have that kind of hell thrust upon him **at ALL**.

"No problem, sis! Just consider me Xan's personal advisor, diplomat and lawyer all rolled into one stunning package!" He said with a vigorous nod of his head to show he'd back her son up of Big Daddy Oberon or Titania showed up.

"Good. Now take your young charge here back to his parents." Jessica said as, with a wave of her hands, the spells and wires binding him withdrew back to where ever they came from, "After all, I know better than most that little boy's need their rest or they'll get all cranky on Mummy and Daddy."

Levitating Alexander Fox Xanatos into his arms, he gave a quick bow before flying out the window of the Harris master bedroom. Soaring high into the sky and heading for the cottage where Davy and Fox were hopefully still sound asleep rather than angrily awaiting their return. After all, he had promised to tell them ahead of time if he was taking Alex out for a lesson and he sincerely doubted that they'd prove lenient for his first time breaking a promise to them.

&

_**Two Months Later, New York City, Aerie Building, Indoor Arboretum, Evening**_

"Is that him, my sister? The one we seek?" Asked a silver clad teenage woman from her spot on the balcony overlooking the rest of the Arboretum.

"Aye, Natalie. There before us stands the son of Morgana and, from what I have learned, he has only received the bare minimum instruction from the Puck." Spoke another woman with an Irish accent in her voice, "A few parlor tricks and some measure of direct assault are all that he is capable of."

"Then, my sisters, Natalie and Sheena, I believe it is time we introduce ourselves to the heir of Le Fay and enlighten him as to the **benefits** of gaining our favor." Spoke a third young woman, clad in a form fitting red evening dress that had caught more than one mortal male's eyes since she arrived, "After all, who better than young Alexander Le Fay to fill the void left by Mordred."

With that the three women clad in silver, green and red proceeded in perfect formation towards the stairs that would lead them to the lower level. With every step they took, their minds delved deeper into the possible futures that could be born of the alliance about to be formed. None of them had any doubt that the young Halfling would resist their offers at first. He was the son of Morgana Le Fay, after all, and no spawn of her loins would willingly bargain from anything less than a position of power. However they were confident that with some…sensual persuasion over the course of several weeks they could bring him around to their way of thinking. Once that was done, the mortal world would be powerless before their quartet and an empire would be forged to rival Avalon itself.

They would prove that four half Fey could accomplish what even a pure blooded Fey could not.

They would show **them ALL!**


	28. A Death Denied and A Life Found

"A Death Denied, A Life Found" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"A Death Denied, A Life Found" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

(GitS Anime Series/BtVS)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown in this drabble/short at all. It belongs to the individual creators of each show and their associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever.

Note: This crossover has been in the back of my mind for a long time now and I've only just now been able to clear up enough time to begin working on it. Truth be told this drabble/short has me interested enough to pursue this into a complete and in depth fanfic even if you the readers do not vote it through that way.

This will mostly be centered on the Stand Alone Complex Anime series rather than the two Ghost in the Shell movies. Mostly because it gives me more to work with and I never really liked the way they handled the Major after the end of the first movie or during the second.

As for some of the techno jargon I'll be slipping in at just the right times I'll be taking most of it from what I've been able to find online with the book "Rifts Cybernetics and Bionics". Other things that I cannot find suitable already existing labels/definitions/etc for I'll just try to cobble together feasible sounding techno-geek speak from my own mind.

PS-While some might consider it impossible I would appreciate any help you the readers might be able to give me in making my desired pairing not only plausible but also fitting. Read through to the end to discover who I want to be Xander's romantic interest.

_A Death Denied, A Life Found_

_**Shanghai, China**_

_**The Nakatomi Building, Penthouse**_

_**October 5**__**th**__**, 2030A.D**_

_**Late Evening**_

_He's coming! He's coming to __**kill**__ me!!_ Thought C.E.O Liwei Nakatomi as he sat behind his desk, doing his best to keep his growing fear to himself.

It was nearing midnight, the time that his killer had declared would be the time of his death and, with every tick of the clock that sat next to his right hand, his fear rose. It had only been two weeks ago that he had first heard the rumors that one of his rivals had hired a mercenary to kill him. He, of course, was at first concerned since he very much wanted to live and so he'd had one of his under-the-table investigators sniff around the most likely candidates. He'd ordered them to focus on those that were both known to employ hired guns, were morally lacking in such dealings and would profit by his demise. A solid week had passed with no evidence to suggest anything of the sort from any of the usual suspects, leaving him distinctly uneasy. While he had not been arrogant enough to think that his enemies were idiots or were incapable of playing things impressively close to the vest but his investigators were usually able to find **something,** that had caused him, for a moment, wonder if the people behind the threat on his life were one of the more 'moral' and 'altruistic' among his competitors but dismissed the idea quickly. None of them had the backbone for such an underhanded and illegal move, too concerned with 'doing the right thing' and 'avoiding trouble with the law' they were, and that left him clueless as to where to direct his efforts.

Then the example had been made and the message delivered.

It had been later on in the day when he had begun to worry about his info seekers not being able to turn up anything on the usual suspects that he'd received a package marked **urgent**. At the time he'd thought it might have been one of his more fringe oriented info investigators coming in with a Hail Mary solution to his problems or a last minute elimination **of** his problem. However, what he found inside of the package haunted his mind to this moment and made him sure that there was more to this than he'd originally thought. Inside the package had been the head, right hand and…penis of his most trusted illegal acts facilitator, Hanabishi Jinei. One of his security men had made the joke that this was supposed to show just how serious the threat was and that the assassin had him by the balls.

He now was certain that that was what the message implied.

In the days that followed, he had made some… questionable choices centered on showing his enemies how bad things could be if they didn't call off their assassin. There were already signs that those moves would hurt him down the line and that there might even be a need to silence those that carried out the acts to prevent legal problems from popping up. That all depended on him **surviving** the next few hours and destroying the assassin when he/she made went for the kill, of course. Fortunately he already had a few protective measures in place, measures he'd had installed soon after becoming C.E.O, that would stand up to an armed incursion by the military themselves. This, of course, was thanks to a couple of late night tours of armories and the bribing of some 'underappreciated' colonels. Once the official weapons were properly neutralized, he had used his connections on the black market to look for weapons that weren't used by the military for certain reasons but stood a chance of being used against him. Put both of them together and he probably had the most secure penthouse on the planet with an E.M elevator built into the central support column so that even bringing down the entire building wouldn't work.

That didn't completely allay his fears so he had his bodyguards all upgraded to the top of the line prosthetic bodies and armed to the teeth. Combined with combat androids and there was no way that any assassin, no matter how good they were, would be able to get close enough to harm a hair on his head. Nevertheless, though, he couldn't shake the feeling that none of these precautionary measures would make any difference when the time came. He supposed it came from the fact that he knew next to nothing about the assassin and the methods this killer used to fulfill their contract. For all he knew, the killer had planted something inside one of his own bodyguards during their prosthetic body operation, but he couldn't take the chance that he was wrong and they were clean since pulling them now would render them even more vulnerable. In the end there was nothing he could do but sit in his leather chair and hope that the gods saw fit to allow him to survive this entire affair.

The first sign they received that something was afoot came in the form of suspicious elevator activity involving all but one of the elevators changing direction to deposit the people inside on the ground floor. Once this was done, the boxes were completely locked down and would take at least twelve hours to get back online, assuming maintenance was dispatched immediately. He wouldn't interfere with that, of course, just in case it was a decoy meant to draw in his own security forces, weakening the protective barrier around him. As for the one elevator that was still in motion, security cameras inside the car showed no one inside, but that didn't mean anything. With thermo-optic camouflage, there could be as many as three people in there and, unfortunately, he hadn't been able to acquire a means of seeing through the newer versions of this technology. In response to this, he immediately ordered three of his bodyguards to get to the elevators on this floor and cover the one coming up to the penthouse. With a total of ten human bodyguards and five high-level combat androids, he could afford to send three of the humans in prosthetic bodies to check it out.

Five minutes later when the door to the still-functioning elevator opened, just about everyone in the room was waiting for something to happen, whether it was a spray of bullets from the occupants of the car attempting to clear a path to him or simply confirmation from those dispatched that no one was inside. After five minutes with no action taken by the possibly unseen elevator car occupants, one of the bodyguards carefully approached it with fully automatic assault rifles trained on the interior. Loaded with armor piercing rounds with a clip strapped to the bottom of the magazine filled with explosive rounds, no body armor would be able to withstand an assault from either weapon. However this caution proved to be unwarranted since, after a thorough search of the elevator car, it was determined that nothing had been there to begin with.

_Was it meant as a decoy?_ He thought as he tried to think of how manipulating the elevators would aid an assassin in reaching its target.

It was then that sensors set out on and around the rooftop of the building alerted him to a heavy assault chopper heading for his position. The part of this that worried him, though, was that the chopper was a good two hundred meters inside of the maximum range of the sensors. If the craft had indeed been on the approach all this time, then it should have been picked up much earlier. Some new form of cloaking field perhaps? Regardless, he pressed a series of commands into the computer that caused the blast shield panels to fall down over the windows before locking into place. The hum that he heard seconds after confirmed that the electro-magnetic field was now online and any projectile fired at it that was susceptible to magnetic fields would be stopped cold. The only flaw in this E.M system was that it required him to illegally tap into the city's main grid in order to generate a field of sufficient strength to stop everything. He would probably need to pay a sizeable sum to the police commissioner **and** the Mayor if he wanted to keep the truth under wraps.

But it would be worth it.

A minute later this was proven as the sounds of heavy weapons fire could be heard coming through the blast shields, indicating military grade weaponry was being used. Useless, of course, since the E.M field counter measure was still in the R&D phase for the military whereas his own scientists had perfected it months before. In fact he had a mole inside the military's research and development division sabotaging their efforts, thus lengthening the time they needed to finish their work. If it turned out that the military chose to abandon this project, he'd approach them a year later with the Nakatomi version and offer to sell it to them for a tidy sum. If they stuck to their guns and finished their own version, there'd be enough flaws slipped into the design that anything they produced would be inferior to his version. With the sounds of high caliber rounds and rocket propelled projectiles lighting up the sky outside of his penthouse, his confidence rose as only sound made it through to him. When the noise finally stopped, though, he was left to wonder if that was it, if the assassin had given up, or if it was merely the first of several assaults. Looking down at the display built into his desk, he watched as the sensors on the roof show him that the chopper was withdrawing. Smiling, he decided that he'd have his bodyguards relax for the time being and looked up from his focused gaze on the display to do so.

What he saw stopped him in his tracks and sent his fear up to unparalleled levels and caused him to pull out the largest caliber handgun he was capable of wielding.

All his bodyguards, the combat androids as well, were either headless or in pieces laying about the penthouse and quite dead. The room itself was riddled with battle damage in the form of bullet holes, mangled electronics and destroyed furniture that had cost him a small fortune to procure, given how old they were. From what he could see, most of them had been slain before they could even raise their weapons and only the machine fast movements of the combat droids had allowed any weapons fire at all. It seemed impossible to him. Each of these men were ex-military with years of experience to their name and the combat androids had proven themselves to be head and shoulders above the other models in deadliness. With all of them assembled to protect him, it should have been impossible for any one person or a group to overcome without taking some kind of damage. Yet nowhere in the entire room could he see a person who wasn't a bodyguard or a combat android! It didn't make sense!

"Yes, it does." Came an electronic voice from within his cyber-brain, "Think it through."

_I've been hacked!!_ He thought with surprise as the truth did indeed become clear in frightening detail.

He could even pick out the precise moment in which it occurred: the elevators. With both him and his bodyguards so focused on the elevators and searching the car, none of them would have noticed their cyber-brain being hacked unless the perpetrator was an amateur. However, given the complexity of the security barriers in his own cyber-brain, only an elite super class A hacker could have chopped their way through in so little time. HELL! The barriers had been pitted against some of the most skilled hackers in the world, both the criminal ones as well as those employed by various law enforcement agencies. No one had been able to break through them in less than an hour and only a few had managed to do so without alerting anyone that something fishy was going on. For this assassin to cut through it in less than twenty minutes and then stage a completely fabricated scenario spoke of high level skills possessed only by a few. In a world where everything was either connected or controlled by computers, a hacker of great skill can do just about whatever he or she wants.

"Exactly," said the voice before something cold pressed up against his head.

Then the coldness vanished along with everything else.

Including his life

&

_**Penthouse of the Recently Deceased C.E.O Liwei Nakatomi, Thirty Seconds Later**_

_Looks like it really is over._ He thought after many seconds of no further threats emerging or hidden countermeasures, _Time to get the other half of what I came here for._

Disengaging his advanced thermo-optic camouflage, he moved over to the dead man's computer and, after pulling out the connector cable from his neck, plugged to the interface socket on the base of the computer. Almost immediately he was assaulted by attack barriers and virus but they didn't even slow him down since his experience over the last two decades made dealing with them child's play. That didn't mean he could afford to slack off much since the information he wanted would probably be linked to some kind of system crash or mass deletion program. After all, while Liwei was a spineless coward, this made him paranoid enough to cover all the bases, including making sure than sensitive information was destroyed should it be threatened by hackers. That was why he had chosen to wait until after Nakatomi's termination to get the information rather than try to get in from an outside source. By accessing the system from the terminal of the C.E.O, there would likely be less in his way going in as well as a series of bread crumb trails narrowing down where he should look for the data.

Not that it would have been impossible for him to get through the normal way, but he was being paid quite a hefty sum to terminate Nakatomi and acquire this info.

Pissing off one's employers by botching a job was rarely a good idea.

As the data finished downloading, he disconnected himself from the computer and immediately put the end that had been connected to the computer to a portable hard drive on his equipment vest. Without hesitation he downloaded the info he'd hacked into the drive and, once completed, ran a complete virus scan of his own systems as well as any suspicious data fragments left behind. While he was probably being a bit paranoid, his lessons with his hacker mentors and years of experience as a soldier for hire told him he should go through it just to be safe. It wasn't until the scans and neutralization programs had finished their work that he reached over to Liwei's computer one final time to lower the defenses in all areas leading to the EM elevator.

_After all, it'd be a shame to put a neat ride like that in here and not use it at least __**once**__._ He thought with a smile that was hidden by his full-face mask.

&

_**Suburban Mansion of the C.E.O of the Mibu Corporation, One Day Later**_

"Well done, Snake Eyes." Mibu Sanosuke said as he concluded his examination of the information that had been provided, "With this information, it will only be a matter of time before the last of the corrupt officials in the government are ousted and their co-conspirators captured. We owe you a debt of thanks."

"Use it wisely," was all that Snake Eyes said in response to this in his distorted and synthesized voice.

"Of course. As for your payment for services rendered, it has already been deposited in the account you specified in the manner you laid out." Mibu stated, sounding genuinely amused by the complex plan they had been asked to follow for the money transfer, "I must admit, though, I am somewhat baffled by the elaborate and complex method you asked us to use. I assure you that the regular methods of transfer are quite secure and my associates at the bank would be glad to erase all mention of it from the official records."

"Secure is a relative term." Snake Eyes replied with no sign of emotion either negative or positive.

"Yes, I suppose to someone of your talents it'd be difficult to find a system truly secure from even the best hackers." He said with a nod as he imagined the number of systems this soldier for hire had reportedly managed to penetrate.

"Farewell." Snake Eyes said before turning towards the door to the mansion and walking towards it.

"I have other jobs for you." He said hoping to keep the services of such a skilled operative for a while longer, "While the death of the Nakatomi C.E.O and the information on this portable hard drive will go a long way towards eliminating the corruption, there are still those who will be able to escape justice despite what we have."

"Not interested." Snake Eyes stated before resuming his walk towards the front door and eventually out of the mansion.

It was truly a mystery to him and, despite the fact that he really wanted to unravel the mystery that was Snake Eyes, Mibu decided it would be best not to press the man. So far every bit of information he was able to uncover about the man had been verified beyond a reasonable doubt. When he had made the decision initially to finally take action against the corrupt Nakatomi corporation and all those associated with it, he had searched far and wide for the perfect operative. It wasn't easy since, by and large, freelance operatives become freelance because of either the superior financial opportunities or the lack of restrictive regulations. As such, the average member of the group was both lacking in morals and susceptible to the allure of greater rewards. It made it difficult to trust them. It wasn't until he had first learned of the soldier for hire named Snake Eyes that he thought he may have found the warrior he sought. While there were some distasteful bits at the beginning they did not linger long and eventually the man's past settled into a pattern of him **choosing** who he will work for rather than being **chosen** for a job. It didn't matter how much money or assets an employer threw at him. If he didn't want to work for you, he didn't work for you and that was that. There had been attempts to **force** the soldier to perform a task and keep him on their payroll indefinitely but those efforts never ended well for those to that made the attempt.

So, in the end, his only choice was to accept that Snake Eyes would not be working for him again any time soon. For some strange reason he didn't mind and even sort of believed that that was the way it should be. A free blade belonging to no one but there to render aide to a person or a people who deserved or possessed a dire need for his strength. He let out a slight chuckle at this before picking up the portable drive before him and moving towards the most secure safe on his property. It was a safe that contained the most precious things in his possession and was comparable to the ones used by those at the very top of federal government or the military. Best of all, though, there was no way to extract the contents of the safe en masse since he had specifically ordered that it be made so that items could only be removed one by one. Add to that the various security and attack barriers that had been placed on the interface and the things that were contained within it were as safe as anything truly was in this world. Placing the portable hard drive in the mini-elevator that would take it down to the safe, he wondered who Snake Eyes' next employer would be. From what he had uncovered himself, all of the ones still living were good men, of firm honor and integrity, and of those currently dead being deceivers who thought they could trick the soldier.

Fools.

Whoever Fate chose to be the next recipient of the soldier's services would not be disappointed.

Of that he could not be more certain.

&

_**Three Months Later**_

_**Tokyo, Japan**_

_**Evening**_

_**Unknown Location**_

"So, what's the list of potential bosses for today, Trixie?" Xander asked as he exited the bathroom in sweat pants and nothing else.

"Not much but there is one that meets the criteria you **stubbornly** choose to adhere to." Trixie replied from her position behind their customized portable computer set up, "Looks like one of Japan's high society types is getting hammered by some serious hacking and has lost some crucial info. The authorities are looking into it but apparently this guy is pulling out all the stops to get it back. That's where you come in."

He smiled at how the life-like android managed to be both obedient but, at the same time, make her opinion known. Still, he knew that without her he'd be in a serious bind since she was the one in charge of maintenance of his prosthetic body and the customized parts that it had. While not a complete dunce when it came to cybernetics and the way his body worked, it'd be kind of hard to repair yourself if your body was too banged up to move. Personally he blamed her personality on the old hag that had sold her to him fifteen years ago. BaBa, as he liked to call her, had been one of the pioneers of cyborg technology and also was a trained wicca. It was she that had put him in his current form and, as an added 'bonus', had saddled him with Trixie both as an ally and to see how the prosthetic body worked out. It was a prototype, after all, and was the first example of someone trying to combine science with magic in this particular manner. All previous attempts ended rather badly and, as it turned out, ADAM had been one of them. Unknown to any except Dr. Angleman, Dr. Walsh had possessed some magical talent and had used it in her attempt to fuse various demonic, cybernetic and human components together. Whether she had done this knowingly or simply had slapped random arcane symbols onto the monstrosity was unknown.

Given how the whole experiment had ended, he'd bet on the latter.

While he didn't like the idea of being used as a lab rat for some old hag's experiments, he hadn't had a whole lot of choice in what happened to him. He ruthlessly forced the memories of that time back into the dark corner they'd resided in since then because he was **not** going to let that one event taint he rest of his life. It was over with, it was in the past, his only concern now was with the future and what he wanted to do with it.

"Any idea on just how many super cops I'll be dealing with and which groups will be involved?" He asked as he looked over her shoulder at the facts scrolling down the holographic screen.

"Mostly just your run of the mill cops along with a few federal agents." Trixie replied before bringing up a file with a lot of distortion in it, "However the biggest concern I have is the group referred to as Public Security Section 9. I've tried to get some background info but all I've uncovered is that they're a search and rescue organization but that doesn't mesh with the level of network security I'm getting from them."

"You figure the SAR is just a front?" He asked as he tried to read what he could from the file covered with distortion holes.

"Definitely and to have this level of security on their network, they have to be experts in cyber-warfare." Trixie replied before her movements became more hurried, "SHIT! I think they've spotted me! Gotta lead them away from here!"

This was something of a surprise since, aside from his own skills, Trixie was pretty skilled herself even though she was an android. While artificial intelligence might have come a long way in the past two decades, there were still some shortcomings that science had yet to overcome when it came to the gap between the human mind and a machine's mind. Still, she was wonderful as backup during the times when he needed an extra set of hands cracking a database or snooping where he wasn't supposed to snoop. For someone to have spotted her snooping around in their network either meant that the people who designed it were good or whoever was monitoring the whole thing was **very** good. Watching as her hands popped open to reveal three times the number of fingers to work the keyboard, he began to think up escape plans for the two of them. If they wound up being tracked back to this hotel room, they'd have to leave in a hurry and be sure to sterilize the place to keep from leaving anything sensitive behind. However, when the typing came to a stop and Trixie sank back into her seat with a sigh, he took that as a sign that she'd successfully routed the Section 9 trace away from their location.

"Safe! Thanks to my **expert** computer skills, they think the source of the intrusion is coming from a sushi bar ten blocks away." Trixie said with pride before looking up at him with a smug look on her face, "MAN I'm **good!**"

"Don't get cocky. You were noticed, after all." He said as he filed away his escape plans for another time, "Maybe you're losing your touch?"

"Shut **your** mouth! I AM the **best!**" Trixie growled at him before pouting like a teenage girl, "They just got lucky! The only way they could have found me in a network that big is if they **tripped** over me by **accident!**"

"Sure. Right!" He said deciding that it wouldn't be a good idea to pester the person in charge of keeping his body working.

Still, it was a little worrying that there was someone, or perhaps a group of people, out there with the computer skills necessary to catch Trixie snooping. If this Section 9 turned out to be as dangerous as he thought they were, he'd have to be careful during the course of this job. According to law enforcement community, he was a mercenary, a criminal, and so there was little doubt that they'd try to arrest him if they spotted him. The truth of the matter was that he sort of deserved some prison time for the things that he did in the beginning. When starting out in the soldier for hire business, you needed money for everything from travel expenses to equipment to information. He didn't have much of his own and… he **refused** to take any of **their** money after what they did to him. So he had no choice but to take a few jobs that left him feeling worse than shit afterwards in order to save up enough to work on his own. Five years, five years it took before he could truly become his own boss, and now he could choose whom he wanted to work for and what jobs he wanted to take. Still, there were times when he remembered the things he did and wondered if there would ever be a time when those actions would cease to stain his soul.

"So when do you plan to contact this guy?" Trixie asked, rotating her chair around to face him.

"In two hours. By that time the police should be gone and his security should be distracted by their growing fatigue." He replied mentally listing the equipment he'd be taking along, "I'll give him the standard opening lines and then tell him I'll recover the missing data. So what do you think? Twenty-six million yen sound about right?"

"Better at least make it five million as a down payment first and then show him you're worth the rest." Trixie suggested, sounding not entirely opposed to the amount but thinking they needed to prove themselves first.

"Yeah. At least if we ask for a down payment first, it won't be a total loss if someone else retrieves the data first." He said in agreement even though he personally had no doubt that he'd come out on top in the end.

"Right!"

&

_**Section 9 HQ, The Next Morning**_

"Any luck tracking our uninvited visitor from last night?" The Major asked as she entered the room where much of the record viewing stations and interface harnesses were located.

"Not really. Afterwards, Togusa and Batou called in to confirm the false source of the hacking." Ishikawa replied with a sigh as he raised the harness of his shoulder before turning to look at her, "Whoever did this was no amateur and knew they'd been spotted two seconds after we noticed them. All I can say is that whoever they were, they had to have been within a twenty block radius of that Sushi restaurant."

While she was glad to know that the executive officer of Section 9 was able to at least establish a radius for the people that penetrated their network late last night, it still bothered her that it **could** be done at all. By their very nature they were a covert organization and, as such, would not warrant the kind of attention that would justify an unauthorized intrusion into their systems. If the people responsible knew of Section 9's existence, then they too would know the identity of the intruders since only a select number of organizations knew who they were. However, a covert look around had not shown any sign that those groups had taken a serious interest in them nor had they done anything to justify the sort of intrusion they'd experienced. In short, the nature and origin of the intrusion last night into their network was still a mystery and, in her line of work, a mystery was a dangerous thing if left alone.

"Assign Pazu and Borma to take a look around for anyone suspicious in that area." She ordered deciding that it'd be best to resolve this matter soon, "It's possible that this is nothing but, given that Mr. Hiashi's database was hacked into recently, there's a possibility that the two intrusions are linked."

With that she left the room and headed for the garage where she'd meet up with Batou for their trip to Mr. Hiashi's home to take another look at his database. As per standard procedure for investigations like this the database had not been touched one bit since the intrusion had been noticed beyond the deployment of the countermeasures. During their initial meeting with the man they had seen signs that the man was twitchy about the specific details about what information had been taken. He even seemed open to the idea that the data be destroyed if it couldn't be taken back untouched by either side. While just about everyone thought that it was fishy the chief had made it clear that they weren't to do any unauthorized snooping concerning Mr. Hiashi. He agreed with them that there was something they weren't seeing with regards to the man but until they had something more tangible than their instincts nagging them they would do nothing. Still, if they happened to uncover something during their perusal of the database, then that wouldn't count as snooping would it?

As the elevator doors opened up, she could see Batou leaning up against her car, waiting for her as though he had predicted what her course of action would be. Still it wasn't all that surprising considering how long the two of them had been working together. She considered herself to be pretty good at predicting what the former Army Ranger would do so it was only natural that the opposite would prove to be true.

"So, anything new about our visitor last night?" Batou asked as he pushed off her car and stood straight up.

"Nothing we can use to catch them any quicker but Ishikawa's managed to narrow it down to a twenty block radius around the sushi stand." She replied as she walked around to the driver's side door, "I put Borma and Pazu on it."

"A bit extreme, don't you think?" Batou asked, a little surprised at this order, "I mean, sure, it's odd that someone could make it past Section's security barriers but they can't be too good if they got caught so quickly. Probably just some hacker sniffing around where they shouldn't."

"Maybe, but given the investigation we're dealing with at the moment, I don't want to take the chance that the two might be connected somehow." She said, letting him know that she considered the intruder/s were worth being wary of.

Pulling out of the underground parking area of the Section 9 building, she began to ponder what the connections might be. Could it be the perpetrators of the Hiashi intrusion? Possible, but unlikely since it would only add to the heat brought down on them and thieves generally didn't want more attention sent their way than necessary. They generally preferred getting in, getting out and then finding someplace to hole up until the heat died down a bit. Therefore doing anything that would bring even more heat down on them would be the last thing they'd do. Independent outfit that wanted more information on Japan's covert organizations perhaps? Unlikely, since those with the hackers or equipment for such an operation were unlikely to be so sloppy as to get caught plus there would have been some prior warning. In the end there was just too little information for her to work with in determining who the hackers were last night.

_If they try again, we'll be ready for them._ She thought since she already knew that Ishikawa was probably closing off or putting extra protection on the areas the intruder used to access the network.

She almost hoped that they did try again if for no other reason than to silence the nagging question in her head about who they were.

&

_**Near the Home of Hiashi's, One Hour Later**_

**Looks like your hunch paid off, boss. **Came Trixie's voice over their encrypted com-channel, **These guys are definitely with Section Nine if their files are any hint.**

**Profiles? **He transmitted back without looking away from the two identified Section 9 members who were discussing something with Hiashi outside the front door.

**The lady with the purple hair is Major Motoko Kusanagi. Earned the nickname 'The Major' during her time with the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force.** Replied Trixie, obviously summarizing the info she was digging up, **Pretty much a glowing reputation among the grunts but has the occasionally tendency to piss off the higher ups when she doesn't agree with office politics. Her official record ends about five or so years ago, which probably means that's when she hooked up with Section 9.**

**The other is a man by the name of Batou Buttetsu. Judging by the number of blank areas in his record, he was seriously involved in missions that **_**didn't happen**_**.** Trixie continued to explain things to him, **He served with The Major during the last World War and was recruited into Section 9 a year and half after Kusanagi's official record ends. If this is the caliber of people we're going to be tip-toeing around, we're going to have our work cut out for us.**

**Understood. Over and out.** He transmitted back before terminating the connection.

All thoughts of this being an easy round of detective work mixed with some brawling left his mind with the info about the lawful minefield being laid out before him. If Section 9 was made up of these sort of people then completing his assignment was going to be way more difficult than he had originally thought. While he had come a long way from the young man who fought demons for a living, he knew better than to underestimate his adversaries. You only accepted victory when the battle was done and your opponent's status confirmed. Still, he was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't have raised the amount of money he'd asked Hiashi last night as compensation for having to sneak around this caliber of law enforcers. Unfortunately it was a sign of poor business to suddenly change your pay without warning or because things got a **little** tougher than was originally expected. So, whether he liked it or not, he would have to be satisfied with the original fee.

Leaping down from his perch atop a telephone pole, he engaged his holographic systems to mask his true appearance beneath that of a handsome businessman. While normal holograms wouldn't fool anyone, this one had an arcane touch added to it that made it almost impossible for your average person to tell the difference. Even those people with prosthetics or cybernetic implants would have a hard time seeing through it and would have to be pretty sharp to pick up the anomalies. It was one of the key systems that let him do his job since it allowed him to alter his appearance at will making it impossible for anyone to come up with a single description of him. He found it particularly amusing that when he carried out a high profile job while disguised as a prominent business person or movie star, the cops sometimes actually thought **they** really were Snake Eyes. While it was true that the travel patterns of some of the people he masqueraded as did match his own, this was purely coincidental for the most part. Sometimes he did follow a movie star or businessman when he needed to throw off the pursuit of the authorities or give them weird ideas but only as a last resort.

Striding up to the front door of the mansion, he rang the doorbell and awaited the arrival of the man's butler and prepared himself to endure Hiashi's obnoxious and arrogant attitude. It seemed that for every rich person that he found he could actually respect, there were five more that he could only barely bring himself to work for. It was maddening in the extreme sometimes but, thankfully, because he was his own boss, he could keep the number of arrogant bastards he had to work for to a minimum. Watching the door open, though, he made a mental promise **never** to work for Hiashi again if he could possibly help it.

"Ah, Mr. Yosho. My master has been expecting you." The aged butler said with a polite smile before stepping aside to allow entry into the house.

Whether this was because the butler knew about vampires or it was just a part of butler training he didn't know. He also didn't know whether or not to be sorry that no vampire would be able to get into this place to end the annoying existence of Hiashi. Not that he thought they would, considering that most blood drinking species of demon had pulled away from population centers for the most part. With the onset of mass cyberization, vampires and others like them had quite a quandary on their hands since cybernetic parts and fully prosthetic bodies made getting a meal harder. Instead of just pulling a random person off the street, the bloodsuckers actually had to first determine if their target was human and then what spot would be safest to bite. In a way becoming a cyborg or going all the way to full body prosthetic essentially took you off the menus of a great many demons. Only those who ate brains were still a threat and even they were reluctant to chow down on a brain if it'd been to heavily cyberized or bombarded with cybernetic fluids. All in all the demonic community was forced to look to the lower classes and those opposed to cyberization of any kind for their food and that demographic was getting smaller all the time.

Entering into the opulent living room, he almost immediately cringed at the housecoat that Hiashi was wearing since not even Liberace would wear something that bizarre.

"Ah! 'Mr. Yosho'! I take it you're here to examine the scene of the crime?" Hiashi asked as though addressing royalty that he wanted to gain favor with.

Much skin did crawl for him and that should've been impossible considering what made up his prosthetic body.

"Yes. All the best clues are found there." He replied keeping his response short and to the point.

"This way then." Hiashi said leading the trio to his office where he pressed a button his desk causing part of it to transform into a computer.

What a **CLICHÉ!**

"The database is yours to examine my friend." Hiashi said once again sounding like he was trying to butter someone up, "However I would ask that you restrict your movements to the affected areas. While I do not doubt your ability to keep certain things to yourself, much of what is contained here is highly confidential. It would be rather…messy if my business partners learned someone else had gained access to certain information that had been placed in my keeping."

"You have nothing to worry about." He said, not particularly interested in whatever dirty laundry this man had.

Without further delay he went over to where the access ports were and, after wrapping a security collar around his neck, he initiated the connection. Instantly he was inside the database and could see for himself both the level of security as well as abstract depictions of the damage caused by the intruders. His first impression of the database was that it was definitely the best that money could by since it possessed attack and defense barriers no usually seen outside government mainframes. Using his own info combined with the traces left behind by the Section 9 team, he was able to find the area that had been hacked into as well as bits and pieces left over from the intrusion. The minimal amount of damage to the files and categories surrounding the missing data implied that the infiltrator had a general idea of where to find what they sought. That or they had a sophisticated search program that took them right to the files they desired. Both possibilities implied great skill or great wealth since acquiring the layout of a private mainframe or producing a search program that went around file restrictions was no small task. Inspecting the data fragments one by one, he noted that most of them were fairly large and could feasibly be recovered and this fact told him that whoever intruded into Hiashi's mainframe didn't use brute force to get the job done. So when you added quick location of the target files with precise methods of extraction and there were only a few hackers he knew of who could have done this. He had three top possibilities in mind but he would have to consult with Trixie as soon as he left to find out how many suspects were currently in Japan.

_Once I have a list, I can pay each of them a visit until I find the target._ He thought as he prepared to exit the mainframe.

However, just as he was about to log out, he noticed something creeping up behind him and turned to face it as well as capture it in one move. Caught with one of his milder data freeze programs, he immediately recognized the configuration of his prisoner and the most likely reason for its sneaking up on him. Growling in anger, he knew he would have to remind Hiashi that it was poor manners to snoop inside another person's head uninvited. With a savage digital thrust, he impaled the captured program on the tip of the deletion program he'd called up and watched as it went poof like a vampire. With that done, he left the mainframe, returned to the real world, and turned to glare at Hiashi, who looked like he was scrambling for some sort of excuse. In the end he chose not to even bother listening to whatever half-baked lies the asshole came up with.

"I have the information I need." He said as he exited the office and headed for the front door, "Assuming things go smoothly, you'll have your missing information within two weeks at the latest. Goodbye."

With that he left the mansion and began to head to where Trixie was waiting for him with the transportation. Had he been a little more perceptive of the surrounding area, he might have noticed that someone was taking a move out of his playbook as he walked away, completely oblivious of the near invisible watcher.

&

_**The Major's Car, Ten Blocks Away, Ten Minutes Later**_

"So anything on Hiashi's mystery guest?" Motoko asked as she slid back into the driver's seat of her car.

"Nothing and I've put his mug through every facial identification database we have access to." Batou replied with some annoyance at yet another mystery being dropped in their laps.

"So he's a mystery man." She said as she put the car into gear and pulled out into traffic, "Probably a freelancer hired by Hiashi under the table."

"Yeah, but I don't like not knowing who he is." Batou said with his displeasure in his voice, "What if he gets in our way?"

"Then we'll just have to politely ask him to stand aside." She replied with a half grin as they headed to the next location on their list of places to visit.

As soon as they had learned the basics about the successful hacking of Hiashi's mainframe, they'd gone through a list of known hackers that were currently in Japan. While it was not impossible that the source of the intrusion had come from someplace outside the country, they'd checked the international network for evidence but came up with nothing. There was no evidence that someone in another country hacked into the national Japanese information network in order to infiltrate Hiashi's mainframe. Therefore the perpetrator had to be somewhere inside the country. However, even narrowing the list of suspects to those reportedly residing in the country at the moment, there was still a large number to sift through. So they were going from the most likely ones, hackers with a past history of electronic break ins like this, and going down the list until they found who they sought. Nevertheless, she was having Ishikawa examine the national information network's records during the estimated time when Hiashi's mainframe as broken into. If any unusual activity at that time linked the break in to a place known to be frequented by one of the hackers on their list that person would be moved up into the top three.

As they pulled into one of the seedier market districts, she mentally opened the file they had on their first potential culprit: Takane Chieko, aka The Black Rose. While not exactly young anymore at the age of thirty-nine, she was still considered to be a player in the hacker underground. Many of the younger computer criminals currently climbing the ranks had been taught by her personally, making her the mentor of many. She was also an information trafficker that was a league above the usual ones she went to for information but that was mostly because the woman didn't scare very easily at all. That and the fact that the old woman was smart enough to cover her tracks completely so most detectives who tried to arrest her only had circumstantial evidence to work with.

If she **let** them have even **that** much.

What she was counting on to at least get her in the door was that Chieko respected hackers with skill on par with her own even if they were members of the law enforcement community. Sometimes it got to the point where she'd send the ones that almost managed to break into her mainframe pointers on how they could improve their skills. To those that came so close that she had to face them herself rather than leave it to her subordinates she actually had the audacity to offer them positions in her little gang. While the official position of the various detectives was that these offers were rejected immediately she'd noticed a couple of cases of 'early retirement' later on.

With a little luck, the Black Rose might respect a hacker of her caliber enough to toss a few potential leads out on the table.

Assuming that she wasn't the perpetrator herself, of course.

Pulling up in front of the White Lotus restaurant, she told Batou to wait in the car despite protests that she might need backup. The reason she gave was that Chieko would be less willing to open up if anyone less than a super class A hacker approached her for information. It wasn't that the former Ranger wasn't good when it came to cyber-warfare, he just wasn't as good as her and, sadly, not good enough to even get even a glance from the Black Rose. In the end, he had to accept that while he was good enough to get into the club he wasn't high enough up to sit at the V.I.P table just yet. Closing the door, she approached the front door and, once the two toughs guarding it noticed her, she made a hand sign used by the higher ranking hackers. Basically it was her membership card and invitation all rolled into one intricate positioning of her hands.

Once inside, just about every person inside looked at her for a few moments, identified her either as a cop or one of their kind, and then went back to minding their own business. Moving through the unofficial paths between tables, she looked around carefully until she spotted the person she sought. Unlike what most people might think, The Black Rose didn't make sure everyone in the room knew who she was and where she was in the restaurant. Instead she disguised herself and only let out small hints for the right people to pick up on and decipher. Those that managed to piece everything together were good enough for her to speak with while the others were ignored as sub-par idiots that would be a waste of her time. Still, it was a little surprising that an elite hacker like her would choose to dress like some drug junkie Goth. In any case, she adjusted her course and casually slunk up to the woman before sitting down in the chair opposite Chieko. The woman looked like she was half drunk when she raised her head but it was an act.

"Well, well, Major Motoko Kusanagi!" Chieko said softly with some amusement, "To what do I owe this visit from the only respectable hacker in Section 9?"

It didn't phase her one bit that The Black Rose knew about Section 9 or her full name and rank. It was just about what she'd come in her expecting from the elite hacker.

"The same thing you're always on the look out for: information." She replied after waving away the waiter that had come to see if she wanted anything to drink, "I assume you've heard about Hiashi?"

"You mean how that twit's mainframe got cracked and sacked?" Chieko replied with a contempt filled smirk, "I imagine just about every serious hacker has heard about it by now. Not that the ahou's mainframe is anything special but there's nothing there worth making a fuss about. None of the real players in this world would trust him with anything worthwhile."

"Well, apparently he had something in there that was worth stealing." She said a nod of agreement concerning the Rose's appraisal of Hiashi, "Any idea who might've done it?"

"Now, now, Major you know I don't give out freebies." Chieko said with a look in her eyes that was all business, "Prid pro quo, my dear. You give me something and I'll see if I can recall something to help you out."

While this is something she had considered a possibility there was precious little that she could give the woman without breaking a large number of regulations and possibly a few laws. Still, she would give what she could and hope it'd be enough to persuade the Black Rose to tell what she could about the Hiashi mainframe hacking. Reaching into her pocket, she removed a data disc containing information she would use as a moderate opening bid while keeping her trump card in reserve. As expected, the woman put the data disc through a series of tests to ensure there'd be no hidden traps or viruses. After all, respect didn't equal trust and The Black Rose hadn't lasted this long by taking foolish chances or lowering her guard even once. Five minutes later the woman was apparently satisfied that the disc was clean and pulling a connection cord from beneath her hair accessed the device used to examine the data offering. A few moments of sightless eyes was all it took for Chieko to skim the information and thus determine its worth.

"Not a bad opening bid, Major. Not enough for me to tell you everything I know but enough for a few bits of information." Chieko said with a grin of respect, "I can tell you that the one responsible is a foreigner and that this is probably an opening bid to set up shop here. Look for the people who might want to **buy** this information rather than the ones who took it. You'll catch the scent better that way."

A sound plan and one that she already had the others looking into on the side but the news of the perp being a foreigner looking to lay down roots was new. A thought occurred to her about the hacking attempt of the Section 9 mainframe and wondered if it wasn't the foreigner trying to size up potential threats. If that was the case then she needed to put even more effort into looking into that event than she was currently expending. In any case looking at things from the perspective that Chieko had suggested was something worth pursuing.

"Thanks for the info." She said, getting up from the chair, deciding that she had enough info to work with for the time being.

"You get what you pay for, right?" Chieko asked rhetorically before an odd look entered her cybernetic eyes, "In any case, I've decided to give you a freebie out of professional courtesy. Keep your eyes on the grass, Motoko. There's a snake hiding in it."

&

_**A Luxurious Hotel Room, Evening**_

"So how's the list looking?" Xander asked calmly as he peered at the information displayed on the computer screens.

"Based on the info you brought back and our own intelligence, I've narrowed the list of possible perps to these three." Trixie replied before bringing three pictures onto the screen, "Cracker Jack from America, Yamada Neji, the Silent Hacker, and Hino Sakura, the Tactician. Of all the possible candidates that there were these three operate in ways consistent with the data you brought me from the Hiashi mainframe."

"Any ideas where they might be holed up?" he asked his mechanic and fact finder.

"Both Neji and Sakura are smart so they won't be easy to find but that baka Cracker Jack is making no effort at all to keep his location a secret." Trixie replied, making her opinion of the show off clear, "He's holed up in the theatre district and has already contacted the most expensive 'escort service' asking for their top ladies. The only smart thing he's done is make sure what hired muscle he has is good at what they do. Getting to him won't be easy and finding time to make him cough up the data will be even harder once the big ba-booms start."

"Don't be silly, Trixie! I'll sneak in there, hack the guards in the room with him and have a nice little chat with him." He said, belittling her concerns as he turned to gear up, "There won't be any explosions to attract the police."

She just snorted in response to that.

"What? Do you think I'm incapable of completing a job without causing massive property damage?" He asked, genuinely surprised that she doubted his ability to be sneaky and stealthy.

"Well… you betcha! You might not start out that way but your own type of luck always manages to muck things up somehow." Trixie replied with an amused look on her face, "You're just lucky that everyone has attributed that damage to the people you targeted rather than your chaotic self. If word got out that hiring you was going to result in damage like you did in Ireland, we'd be out of work inside a year."

"That was **NOT** my fault! The guy actually had **tactical battle drones** at his command!" He protested as he began to select the gear he'd use, "**TACTICAL DRONES**!! Those things are supposed to be used on tanks and shore-to-sea battles with battleships, **NOT** people!!"

"Hai, hai! The fact that you mangled his entire collection of Billy Idol memorabilia had nothing to do with it." Trixie stated obviously enjoying his mental duress.

"Hey! I thought he some sort of Spike fanboy or something!" Xander argued in his defense as he strapped his customized katana to his back, "Most of the pictures did have Billy Idol in a black duster, it was a perfectly reasonable mistake to make."

"Whatever! Just try to keep the excess destruction to a minimum, okay?" Trixie asked rhetorically since she knew it would probably happen anyways.

"Right." He said as he finished arming himself and dropped the holo-disguise to reveal the true him beneath.

Clad from head to toe in a black bodysuit, a seamless face mask with a visor over his eyes, gloves with forearm guards, boots with shin guards and finally an equipment belt that he rarely took off. It had been this way for many a year and, aside from times of maintenance, he never removed these key pieces of clothing and equipment. They were his way of saying that Xander Harris, the one his **friends** strove to save, did not exist anymore. Not once in any of his holo-disguises did he use features or characteristics from his old body, nor did he allow his voice to sound similar either. He had even done his best to make sure his body movements and mannerisms were replaced by different ones so that no one from his former life would recognize if they saw him. The only things that he kept from his old life were his mind and his memories. That was mostly because he believed in the old saying that a person who does not remember the past is doomed to repeat it. Although those that truly knew him would say he kept these things because, even after they betrayed him, he still valued his friends and the times they shared together. He of course would deny this stating that whatever might have existed between him and his former friends was now nothing more than a faded dream.

That…was the truth.

"Monitor the police bands and emergency channels." He said falling into his Snake Eyes persona, "Farewell."

With that, he activated his enhanced thermo-optic camouflage and, with a running start, leapt from the balcony of their hotel room with only a high tensile strength wire attached to his left leg to control his descent. While some might think that going to his target's location on foot was impractical, he chose to do so in order to reduce the amount of evidence that could be used against him. In the current day and age, just about everything could be tracked back to the source each piece of data he allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy was another bullet to be fired at his head. As it was, his equipment went through such a ridiculous amount of fronts and false paper trails before landing in his hands that it was almost not worth it. Still, if it meant that the law enforcement community and the numerous enemies he's made chase those false trails instead of him, it meant less heat where he was.

Once he touched down on the ground, he quickly made his way to the rooftops opposite the hotel and leapt onto them intending to use the thieves highway to get where he wanted to go. Again this would reduce the evidence left behind of his presence since few people kept a close eye on the rooftops unless they had a reason to. Jumping from one to another, he brought up the location of Cracker Jack on the H.U.D of his cyber-eyes and plotted the most expedient course. It took him only an hour to reach the general neighborhood where Cracker Jack was holed up but any plans of sneaking in quietly went up in smoke when an explosion lit up the street in front of the target building. Slowing his advance, he changed his approach vector under the assumption that he was entering an area where hostilities had broken out between two or more factions. It took less than five minutes for him to finally arrive and realize what was going on and he had to smile with respect at the skill of Section 9. Positioned on the rooftop was a cybernetically enhanced sniper who was picking off goons who were foolish enough to take a peek out the window. Down in the street he could see the man, Batou, taking on some cyber-thugs and while they were getting some serious hardware fired at them, it looked like they were handling things.

However, when a second explosion from the top floor knocked out an entire wall, he could tell that things were about to get interesting and not in a good way. As the smoke cleared and the sounds of falling debris fell silent, he could finally see what had caused the second explosion as well as the first, most likely. Through the hole in the wall he spied a total of three military grade combat cyborgs outfitted with all the latest gizmos and weapons. Using his cyber-eyes, he immediately catalogued the model of each part in their bodies as well as the weapons they carried. Almost whistling with amazement, he realized that these three must have cost Cracker Jack an arm and a leg to purchase. Still, he had to admit that against most agencies and law enforcement, people would be hard pressed to handle them. In Section 9's case, though, it looked like they were somehow managing a stalemate at the moment but he didn't expect that to last. There was no way that Section 9 had come in here expecting such heavily armed obstacles to be blocking their path to Cracker Jack. He knew he hadn't and he'd like to think that he was good enough at what he did that only the very best could sneak something by him.

_Looks like I have a decision to make._ He thought as he watched the firefight progress below him, _Wait until both sides have soften each other up before making a play for Cracker Jack or dive in right now and take my chances._

Seeing the one Trixie identified as The Major get knocked silly by a nearby explosion pretty much left him choosing the latter.

Damn lingering White Knight complex!!

&

_**Inside the Golden Angel Theatre, Same Time, The Major's P.O.V**_

_If this isn't a FUBAR'd situation then I don't know what is! _Motoko Kusanagi thought as she instinctively rolled behind a pillar in order to avoid follow up fire from the combat cyborg.

It had started out normally enough with Ishikawa being able to hack into the mainframes of several people who might be interested in the information stolen from the Hiashi mainframe. While some of them had no mention of the stolen data, there had been a few others that had indicated that an auction of sorts was going to be held in the theatre district. Once that was determined and verified, it was fairly easy to determine who the auctioneer was and the primary suspect for the Hiashi mainframe hacking. Seeing this as an opportunity to catch a group of big fish at the same time as Cracker Jack, they'd moved into the area slowly. Saitou took up a position on the roof across the street in order to close off that avenue of escape as well as deal with any second floor cover fire. Batou and Togusa would cover the front and sides from the street, arresting anyone exiting the building immediately. Borma covered the rear alleyway of the building with Pazu while she attempted to infiltrate the auction itself so as to make sure that Cracker Jack didn't escape. It had been a solid plan that at the time had covered all the bases and left little room for the crooks they'd be taking into custody to move.

Or at least it would've been had one of the auctioneers not planned a double cross of her own and thrown everything into chaos.

Just as the bidding was about to close down, a woman in an extravagant gown had popped open a hidden weapon in her cybernetic arm and her two bodyguards had undergone a dramatic increase in muscle mass. The witch had then said, in no uncertain terms, that she was leaving with the information and anyone not wanting to die should stay out of her way. Two members of the audience had objected to that but were quickly silenced either by a burst of automatic gunfire to one person's head and a cybernetic fist entering his chest and exiting out his back of the other. This pretty much silenced all other opposition from the audience. From Cracker Jack himself, though, it merely produced an amused chuckle along with the pressing of a single button. The function of the button quickly became apparent when sections of three separate walls slid away and three military-grade combat cyborgs exited with weapons trained on the woman as well as her friends. Sadly things devolved into a firefight from there and with the sudden raising of a jamming field her ability to contact the others had been neutralized. With the exit no longer an option thanks to a grenade from the cyborgs, she had no other choice but to stall for time until Batou and the others showed up.

Stalling for time became more difficult with the combat cyborgs began to use more and more explosives mixed with armor piercing rounds. Stone, metal and wood were being torn to ribbons reducing the amount of cover available to her with every tick of the clock. Looking down at the handgun in her right hand, she wished that she had been able to bring something with a little more kick but the dress she'd worn wouldn't have been able to hide a P-90 very well. Add to that the fact that the caliber of hand gun she'd snuck into the auction wasn't powerful enough to do more than dent the armor of the cyborgs and she was in a tight spot.

It was as she was attempting to come up with a secondary plan for dealing with the current mess that she heard the sounds of the cyborgs aiming their weapons in her direction. Consulting the layout of the room and the remaining suitable locations for cover from enemy fire, she was already on the move when two mini-rockets were fired at her former position. While she was able to get out of the range of any shrapnel or flying debris, the shockwave of the blast was still enough to send her sliding across the floor to her destination. Getting into a crouched position, she was about to stand up and fire a couple of rounds at the optical sensors of the combat cyborgs in the hopes of at least reducing their accuracy a bit when the sound of steel against steel entered the air. Puzzled by this, she peeked out from behind her cover and was surprised to see sparks popping into existence at random points on the armor of the combat cyborgs. It almost looked like someone was trying to cut through the armor with a sword of some kind but was only achieving minimal penetration. She couldn't see either the person wielding the blade or the blade itself and, while thermo-optic camouflage could be responsible, such tech was often disrupted by movement. Looking at the air around the combat cyborgs, she could see no blurs that would indicate a person utilizing such technology but Fate, it seemed, was willing to answer her question concerning who was attack the heavily armed cyborgs.

With a click and clack of adjusting machinery, one cyborg revealed that it had a mini-flame thrower built into its right arm. Casting a wide range blast of fire, the cyborg's attack succeeded in disrupting the camouflage of the unknown arrival. What she saw was an odd mix of fictional ninja and commando but, from his movements, she could tell that he was a professional. While the flames had done enough damage to force the unknown commando to drop the thermo-optic camouflage, it had done little damage to anything else. Throwing what appeared to be shuriken at one of the cyborgs, she only had a moment to see them embed themselves into the armor before the ninja weapons turned out to be explosives. The next thing she knew the unexpected arrival was by her side and partaking of the same cover she herself was using. Examining her mysterious ally, she could tell at first glance that a prosthetic body was beneath the black full body armor and, judging from the fingers sparking on the guy's left hand, she had an idea as to the model. Considering that it was a first generation model of the body she herself used, she was somewhat impressed that the man beside her had been able to evade the majority of the combat cyborg's attack.

"Thanks for the assist." She said before looking over the top of their cover and firing two shots at the slash marks left by her unofficial ally's sword.

"No problem." He replied in quiet but strong tone of voice.

"Got a name?" She asked as she felt the impact of high caliber rounds on the solid stone slab they hid behind.

"Snake Eyes." He replied as he attached something to the barrel of his Jericho 942FS that was neither a silencer nor any other handgun accessory she was aware of.

She wished she could get in touch with Ishikawa at the moment to run the name through the database because, while the name did strike a chord with her, she had no facts to go with it. As one armor piercing bullet impacted the wall across from the two of them she realized that any further investigation into the identity of her ally would have to wait. Checking her handgun's ammo one more time, she turned to her ally hoping that his presence would be more of a solution than a problem.

"Do you think that antiquated body of yours can keep up with me?" She asked with a challenging smile as she prepared to go on the offensive with her unofficial partner.

"Antiquated?" Snake Eyes asked, managing to sound somewhat insulted, "Watch and learn."

With speed more on par with her prosthetic body, Snake Eyes darted around the corner of the stone slab they'd been using as cover, charging the combat cyborgs head on. Evading their automatic fire presumably with a kind of trajectory calculation program, her dark clad friend began firing his Jericho at the joints of the enemy. What surprised her, though, was that instead of merely producing surface damage on the armor, every shot fired by the man **obliterated** its designated target. It should have been impossible for a bullet fired from a Jericho to do so much damage to an armored cyborg but she was certain her eyes were not deceiving her. Shaking her head, she decided she was definitely going to be asking her temporary partner a lot of pointed questions when this was all over.

Leaving the cover provided by the stone slab, she carefully aimed her shots so that they worsened the damage left by the rounds that Snake Eyes had used to heavily damage their joints. Where Snake Eyes had robbed them of their movement, she would antagonize the few sensory circuits in the area so their pain would distract them. Between the two of them it wasn't long before all three combat cyborgs were literally disarmed and their movement reduced to minimal levels. With a look between the two of them, she knew that her ally agreed that it was time to put an end to this before Cracker Jack could make his getaway. Tossing her handgun to the ground, only one round left in the chamber, she joined Snake Eyes in piercing the personal space of the three cyborgs and, with a perfectly timed roundhouse kick from the two of them, victory was theirs. Two of the combat cyborgs lost their heads and the last one had his crushed as the legs of two prosthetic bodies slammed into it from opposite directions.

As both of them stepped back a bit to admire their work, the sounds of someone on the other side of the rubble obstructed doorway caused her to look away from her temporary partner. A minute later a small explosion, most likely a grenade, blew away the majority of the stone blocking the door, allowing Batou and Togusa to enter with weapons drawn.

"What the hell?!" Togusa asked with amazement at the devastation as well as what was left of the combat cyborgs.

"Cracker Jack was expecting trouble and came prepared." She replied as she gave her co-wrokers a cursory once over to assess their condition, "Fortunately there was one thing he didn't count on and that was my ninja friend here."

"Who?" Batou asked with a look that told her all she needed to know.

Turning to look at where Snake Eyes had been standing moments ago she was startled to find nothing but empty air. She hadn't heard a thing and, judging from the reactions of Togusa and Batou, they hadn't seen the ninja commando leave. He couldn't have used his thermo-optic camouflage since it would have needed more extensive repairs than could be done on site with a tool kit. Moving over to the gaping hole in the wall that led out into the front of the theatre she looked in all directions but could see no sign of the man who'd helped her out.

"Dammit!" she growled angry at being left with many questions and no answers.


	29. Nights Full of Surprises

"Nights Full of Surprises" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"Nights Full of Surprises" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown herein. They are the rightful property of their individual creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever. I write for my own personal enjoyment and whatever enjoyment the readers experience reading my work.

Note: This drabble will take place in season 4 of BtVS both because that is where Lucinda placed her drabble/short in her X-Xander and… series and because it'll be early enough to allow for a romantic relationship between Nocturne and Xander since his ties to Anya will not be that strong yet. As for which Nocturne this will be, since according to the wiki I am using as source material there are two, I think I'll save myself some trouble and make a third original one. Mostly because in the drabble by Lucinda she talks kinda like Nightcrawler and in the issues I've read of the mainstream Marvel version she doesn't intermix English and German (at least she doesn't in the issues I've read.).

_Nights Full of Surprises_

_Well…another day, another dollar._ He thought to himself as he walked out the side door of the Ice Cream Business he'd been working for the last while, _Though if Anya's spending habits keep going up, I'm going to need to ask for a raise sometime soon._

While he had come to like the ex-vengeance demon and even considered her, in his mind, to be his girlfriend, she was **definitely** an expensive girlfriend. It wasn't too much different from dating Cordy but Anya definitely had weirder tastes than Queen C and not quite as much restraint when it came to spending his money. Oh, she expressed some remorse, temporarily, when she went overboard but it often changed to pestering him about getting a better job. On that front he was actually looking but until he found something better, he had bills to pay and costly bills at that. Both his parents did all they could to squeeze every dime out of his wallet and did so every pay day and came up with crappy extra fees the few times he did earn a bonus. While paying for his basement apartment didn't leave him completely broke, it made taking Anya out for a nice dinner and a movie a bi-weekly thing with giving her a nice gift a bi-**monthly** thing. So far she seemed satisfied with that sort of schedule but he occasionally had to compensate for the dry spots with the best night of sex he could provide. While making and spending money was definitely the most enjoyable thing to the former patron demon of scorned women, the thing that definitely dominated the number two spot was sex. Apparently, as a vengeance demon, she was something of a workaholic, using her work to vent all her displeasure towards the male species for some guy named Olaf cheating on her. That meant that now that she was human again, she had over two thousand years of love making to catch up on.

While some guys might think having a borderline nymphomaniac for a girlfriend was a dream come true, he knew better.

While it was great that she agreed to it when felt the need to scratch that particular itch, it was all the times that **she** felt like doing it that was somewhat troublesome. He's seen countless scenes on TV and in movies where the wife/girlfriend said to the guy 'not tonight dear' but the only time the reverse happens is in one of…those movies. It made for some rather embarrassing moments in front of the gang when Anya used words like 'sex' and 'orgasms', which caused his stress level to rise. Fortunately none of the other Scoobies blamed him for this because they knew the whole story behind his current girlfriend. In the cases where she did it in front of strangers, though, that was another story.

_If my reputation as a freak/outcast/weirdo wasn't established before then Anhn definitely sealed it place after that time in the grocery store._ He thought as he decided to cut through the park so he could get home sooner, _The only thing that kept __**that**__ from becoming a complete waste was the fact that the store manager was willing to cut our bill in half just to get us out of the store. Though the fact that they have our pictures posted in the front windows with big Xs through them kinda kills the good side of that day._

Still she was beautiful, the sex was **AMAZING** and it took the edge off the fact that his friends had all gone off to college without him. It was a sad fact that while he might be smart enough, barely, to get into a college, he didn't have near enough money to pay for tuition or the text books he'd need. Most of the money he'd saved up for his cross country road trip had gone into trying to get the rust bucket his Uncle Rory had given him working again or paying the first month of rent for use of the basement. Even with all the odd jobs he was working to make ends meet, he still didn't have enough to go to college. Add to that the fact that his work schedule and their class schedule didn't always mesh well and there were times he went a full week without being able to spend time with them. It seriously bummed him out sometimes but it also made him do his best to try and treasure the good times even more than before. One possible spot of sunlight on his otherwise dismal week so far was when that odd demon that looked like a cross between E.T and an Ent paid for its ice cream with a golden forearm bracer. While he had been tempted to insist on normal money, he recalled something about this species of demon getting quite violent when insulted so he'd kept quiet. He'd already taken it by one of the local appraisers so he could get an idea of how much it was worth but so far the only thing the member of a neutral demon species could tell him was what the symbols on it said. Apparently the bauble had been inscribed with the word 'Tallus' on the inside of it but neither he nor the demon had been able to figure out what the significance or meaning of the word could be. In any case, the demon appraiser had told him to come back in two or three days and he'd be able to name a price for it.

It was as he was passing the area of the park that was set up with many tables with umbrella's for people who liked to eat their lunches outside that he heard something. It was faint but it definitely wasn't something dangerous sounding for the most part, but at the same time he couldn't figure out what it was. This led to his inner curiosity compelling him to investigate while his inner paranoia was yelling at him to not even think about going towards the noise. Sadly, without any sort of physical evidence like **really** sharp teeth or a **distinctly** malevolent appearance present, his inner curiosity had the advantage. So with paranoia clamped onto his metaphorical leg protesting the entire time, he moved towards the noise with the intent of identifying it. He finally managed to locate it in a primo make-out spot that he'd used once or twice with Cordy when they'd been dating. It was a stone bench that was suffering from a case of severe vegetation in the form of trees that had almost completely obscured it from sight. It had been his personal theory that the city workers had been just too plain lazy to lift such a large piece of solid stone and had decided to leave it there for the trees to claim. In any case, it had been the perfect spot to make out in since as long as you were quiet people would walk right by and never suspect that there was groping going on.

In this particular case, though, whoever was in there was only making a half-hearted effort to be quiet because he could hear the moaning and groaning perfectly.

It was when he realized that he could identify the noise as moans and groans that he felt as though there was something familiar about them. Moving closer, he eventually picked up a second set of moans and groans that were definitely male in nature resulting in his mind providing him with a pretty accurate picture of what was probably going on. However the familiarity he felt when heard the female moans and groans wouldn't let him leave just yet. It wasn't that he planned on watching the two of them make out but rather because…the woman might actually be in danger. Yeah! That was it! After all there were quite a few demons out there that lured their victims in with moments of pleasure before literally ripping their hearts out. So, with the altruistic goal of confirming the safety of the innocent girl, he carefully brushed some of the leaves aside in order to see what was going on.

What he saw froze him completely both from shock and from revulsion.

There, getting stuffed in every available hole, was his **girlfriend** Anya who wasn't wearing so much as a stitch of clothing. That was what produced the shock in him because not only hadn't he known Ahn was into doing it in public but also because she was pretty much cheating on him. His mind raced to try and recall any sign that he might have missed that she had been dissatisfied with the state of their relationship as a way of explaining what he was seeing. Aside from a few times she'd been a bit put out that he wasn't in the mood for sex, he couldn't come up with a single thing. However if it was the sex that motivated her to cheat on him he definitely did not consider it justified since he was certain that seven out of ten times he was just as willing as she was.

The part of him that was stone still in revulsion was the fact that the guy, assuming you could call the demon screwing his girlfriend a guy, was some kind of tentacle demon. He didn't recognize the species and he could definitely go ten lifetimes without ever seeing another one because of what it was doing right now. What it was doing was thrusting one or more of its tentacles in and out of holes that previously were only used by Xander Junior during love making. Just contemplating and wondering how long this had been going on was enough to make him want to castrate himself just to be on the safe side.

Okay maybe not really castrate but definitely give it a thorough washing with the strongest soap he could find.

In any case, without a…sort of understandable reason for her to be cheating on him, his mind clamped down on the idea that Anya was under some kind of spell or influenced by a potion. With this hope in his heart he prepared to dive in, save his girlfriend and then stomp on every tentacle this demon-thing-guy had before leaving. Sadly, just as he took his first step forward, the tentacle that had been in Anya's mouth was removed allowing her to groan as well as say the one thing that shattered his hope.

"OH THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN SEX WITH XANDER! AH!"

Now he was no expert on potions or spells but that sounded a little too lucid and honest for his taste.

In his mind, spells or potions that messed with a person's head generally changed other things as well. During that spell that had the entire female population after him he had been able to tell in seconds that they were not themselves. When everyone had been under the control of that prehistoric demon, they'd been zombies pretty much. HELL! When everyone had been under the influence of the cursed chocolate bars he'd been able to tell even though he had been under its influence as well. The way that Anya was reacting and clearly **enjoying** what was happening to her was not showing signs of dramatic personality alterations or inhibited judgment. Instead it sounded like the same old Anya having the best orgasms of her life and not caring one bit that she was cheating on him with a tentacle demon.

For a moment he considered charging in there and demanding an explanation but since he didn't know what else this demon could do his paranoia finally had a leg to stand on. Slinking backwards he decided he'd confront her tomorrow and give her a chance to explain herself. After all maybe she was under a spell or potion's influence and if that was the case then he couldn't really blame her for this. He'd had enough weird stuff happen to him to know that sometimes there was just nothing you could do when the mojo hit you. He'd even, covertly, approach G-Man after the discussion to figure out how to break the spell or neutralize the potion and then everything would be back to normal.

_Yeah! After all the real Anya wouldn't cheat on me like this. _He thought as he walked away blocking out the moans and groans every step of the way.

&

_**The Following Night, The Streets of Sunnydale**_

"I can't believe she **cheated** on me like that!" He growled as he stomped towards his destination of the demon appraiser to see what more had been discovered about the gold arm brace.

Just like he'd planned, he'd confronted her about what he'd seen and chose to first ask for an explanation before throwing her to Giles for a thorough mystical examination. Needless to say, phase one hadn't lasted long since the complete lack of remorse followed by her blaming him for her unfaithfulness had pretty much obliterated his patience in one go. While he had been required to do some snappy explaining when he carried an unconscious Anya into his apartment, the ex-Watcher had been understanding enough to perform the requisite examination spells.

Nothing.

Nothing at all amiss with her mind or her body.

Nothing to indicate that she had been influenced or forced to do anything against her will.

It had been during the height of his bitching routine that she'd come too and demanded to be untied. Right then he had been so close to grabbing a nearby battle axe and introducing it to Anya's head but Giles had stepped in. After some heated words where she restated how it was his fault she had to look elsewhere to satisfy her sexual needs, she had stormed out of the apartment destination unknown. Personally he hoped that the demon she was fucking turned out to be evil and literally fucked her to death because it seemed a fitting way for her to die. After some consoling words from Giles he had left saying he needed time to think things through and to not mention any of the mess to Buffy and Willow. He **so** didn't need their pity or comfort because it would only rub his nose in the fact that he apparently wasn't man enough to keep a girlfriend faithful. In all his dating years, he'd dated two women seriously enough for them to deserve the title of girlfriend and both relationships had ended badly. With Cordy it had been a single mistake that had pretty much shattered whatever chance there might have been of the two of them getting serious and perhaps marrying each other. With Anya, apparently it had been that he wasn't good enough in the sack to keep her from looking elsewhere for a good time. He knew the others would try to comfort him by saying that it was all Anya's fault and that the former vengeance demon didn't deserve him but such words would do little to quiet the voice in the back of his mind. The voice that ridiculed him mercilessly about what a lousy guy he was and just how pathetic his life was at the moment before concluding with a quip about how he'd never amount to anything.

The voice sounded a lot like his father.

Finally arriving at the appraisal shop, he went in and was surprised to see the blue skinned, curly haired, two fingered demon he'd sold a vanilla ice cream cone to a week ago. Wearing jean shorts that showed off her long three toed legs and a short-sleeved shirt that tempted him with what lay beneath it, he completely missed the more obvious thing about her, like her tail swishing back and forth. It was only when both she and the appraiser noticed him and looked in his direction that he snapped out of a happy place his mind had been in the process of forming.

"Ah! You're back Mr. Har—Xander! Sorry! I forgot." The Appraiser said remembering that the boy didn't like being called Mr. Harris, "I've finished looking over that item you gave to me and I think I've got both an estimate and a potential buyer or the bracer. Ms. Wagner and I were just discussing the details when you walked in."

"You are the one who found it, bitte?" Talia Wagner asked with some surprise as she took a step towards him.

"Yep! Some demon actually handed it to me as payment for some ice cream." He said in a somewhat more friendly tone than his earlier mood would have allowed.

Being in the presence of beauty did great things for improving a guy's mood.

"So how much is that thing worth to ya?" He asked figuring that he'd keep the negotiations informal until she either tried to con him or prove she was a cheapskate.

"Would you consider five thousand dollars to be a respectable amount for the item?" Talia asked, making it clear she considered it a substantial amount.

He did his best to contain his glee at the amount offered and instead looked to The Appraiser since the demon would probably have an accurate idea of the true value. The demon's movements were subtle but he seemed to be indicating that the item was worth more than what was being offered. Looking back at her he tried to figure out from looks alone just why she wanted the item because if she wanted it bad enough he could feasibly up the price and she'd agree to it. However if this was just a passing interest to her the amount offered might actually go down instead and he didn't want to lose the potential five thousand buckaroos he could get for the golden bracer. At first glance she looked like this was just a professional business transaction to her and nothing else but somehow by looking into her neon yellow eyes, he felt there was more to it. It seemed…it seemed like she felt this Tallus thing was vital to her somehow and that if she had to she'd take it from him by force. Considering he still couldn't identify what species of demon she was and the fact he didn't have anything beyond the basic anti-vamp kit with him, a fight would not be a smart thing right now. So in the end he figured the best move would be to string her along a bit further, see whether she would budge on her offer while at the same time try to figure out why she wanted the arm bracer so badly.

"How about I get the thing from our mutual acquaintance here, go down to this out of the way Italian place I know nearby and you tell me why you want this thing?" He asked, sounding completely professional with only a sliver of his Xander charm present, "After all, this is Sunnydale and for all I know, this things is some sort of super magical doo-hickey that'll bring about the next apocalypse. I want to make sure I'm not indirectly killing myself by giving it to you. Fair enough?"

Looking at it he could tell that she was considering his offer and probably wonder if he was trying to come onto her romantically. He figured it was pretty much fair payback for that time she sorta flirted with him while he was selling ice cream. He had no real intention of starting anything with her since the wound from Anya's betrayal was still fresh in his mind. Plus he knew enough about dating while on the rebound to know that it almost never worked out and more often than not backfired big time. Besides, he'd learned his lesson from all the women who'd flirted with him turning out to be Incan mummies, vampires or some other type of demon. While he might not be the smartest guy around, even he learned his lesson after so many empirical lessons. So the odds of this being anything more than a business dinner to discuss the potential payday he'd have as well as the assurance that he wouldn't screw up and cause Armageddon were slim.

Right?

&

_**One Hour Later, Little Mario's, Nocturne's Perspective**_

_Well this has definitely turned out to be a better assignment than I'd thought it'd be._ Talia thought as she enjoyed her Italian dish sitting across the owner of Tallus, _Still I can't let a good time distract me from what I came here for in the first place._

It had been a little over two months ago that her boss, Doc Strange, had called her up and informed her that his moderate arcane senses had detected an unusual event occurring someplace in southern California. She'd done a few jobs for him in the past, milk runs mostly, mixed with a few infiltrations, but for the most part she made it clear that she didn't want to get too involved in his work. What was his work? Well the guy apparently saw himself as some kind of Sorcerer Superhero working to keep the planet safe from demonic and supernatural threats. While she didn't think he was quite the Sorcerer Supreme he often proclaimed himself to be, she'd seen him in action enough times to know he had the chops to back up his boasting more often than not. ANYway, he'd sent her here to locate something that he believed may have arrived on Earth as a result of the unusual event he'd detected. He wouldn't give her a whole lot of specifics about what it was in the beginning but he had given her a magic bauble that could act like a compass directing her to her target. It had only been later that he'd managed to narrow things down a little thanks to a vision showing him where the item would appear and roughly when it'd appear. He'd told her to go to the small town of Sunnydale and wait in the low rent district for an ice cream truck of all things.

Still, she had done as he had asked and had been somewhat convinced when not three days into her stay an ice cream truck had come through the neighborhood selling delicious treats to both human and demon alike. That was probably another reason why Strange had selected her for this particular mission: her appearance was so like a demon that she could blend in with the crowd. As per her usual M.O, she approached the ice cream truck the next day and was surprised to find a young man her own age who didn't immediately recoil or show a sign of disgust at her inhuman appearance. To him it seemed she might as well have been human and she found that strangely refreshing but when he didn't flirt back, she'd pretty much put him in the 'taken' column.

Then, of course, on the one day she had chosen to sleep in it happened.

The item she'd been sent there to acquire had been passed from the claws of some demon to one Alexander LaVelle Harris. She'd wanted to go right over to the kid and steal the thing from him when his back was turned, since it'd be easier than trying to bargain for it. However the Doc had said that this particular bauble didn't change hands by chance and that trying to take it from Harris by force could lead to some shocking repercussions. So, despite her better judgment, she'd followed the guy ever since she learned he had the arm bracer both to learn what he planned to do with it and to learn more about him. After all if she was going to have to bargain with him to get it knowing more about him could only make her job that much easier. Thanks to her ability to wall crawl and fur that allowed her to blend with darkness fairly well, she was able to follow him without being spotted. While she had been somewhat taken aback when the poor guy stumbled upon his girlfriend doing it with a demon she'd decided to use his emotional state to her advantage. The stud wouldn't be thinking straight for at least a week after that park-hosted peep show and with a few well-timed nudges getting Tallus from him would be easy.

She was still internally debating whether or not to give the guy a little 'extra compensation' along with the five grand that the Doc gave her.

"So what do ya think?" Xander asked bringing her out of her trip down memory lane, "Does this place make the best Italian food you've ever tasted or what?"

"It's definitely better than anything you'd find in one of those big chain Italian places." She replied honestly since she really did find the food good, "So, do you want to start with the Q&A?"

"Okay. Question 1: Why do you want this thing so badly?" he asked his laid back appearance vanishing to reveal a solider, "Because if you're planning on using it to end the world, then I'm afraid our discussion ends right here."

"Oh, and I suppose you know all about things that could end the world?" She asked with some skepticism concerning how much the young man really knew.

"I live in a town where demons frequently visit, cause carnage and give grave diggers financial security for the rest of eternity." He replied completely serious as he looked her in the eye, "We have literally end of the world situations hit us almost every year right around when high school lets out for the summer. So I'd have to go with a 'yeppers' on that question."

While her first reaction was to think he was joking with her, she had to admit that there was some evidence that he knew about the darker side of the world. For one thing he apparently sold ice cream to demons on a regular basis without batting an eye. Another hint was the cross and bottle of holy water she could see he carried with him at all times and finally the person he'd asked to appraise Tallus had been a demon. Still, that only meant that he wasn't as oblivious as the rest of the world when it came to magic and the demonic. It didn't mean that he did anything about it or actually fought against it like some of the people Strange worked with. Still she supposed she could give him the Reader's Digest version of it all and hope that that satisfied him.

"There's a guy out east, in New York City, who I do work for occasionally." She replied casually while being mindful to keep certain facts to herself, "He's fairly good with the mojo and sensed something big happening in this area and sent me to find out what was going on. Took me awhile but I eventually figured out that it was that arm bracer you have that set off the buzz in the Doc' head. I guess he wants to take a closer look at it himself to make sure it's nothing dangerous."

The truth of the matter is that Strange had a theory about what had come through the disturbance he'd sensed and was already preparing to nullify its threat via various spells or potions. According to what he'd told her over the phone, the item had something to do with an inter-dimensional location referred to in his texts as 'The Crystal Palace' and someone simply referred to as Timebroker. He'd said that he would research more and get back to her with any pertinent details as soon as he could. While she hadn't inquired any further and didn't know anything besides the basics when it came to the supernatural, she didn't like the idea of something inter-dimensional staying in this dimension too long. She knew about the 'Balance' between good and evil that kept things from going out of control and she didn't want to see what would happen if Tallus knocked things off balance.

"What's his full name?" Xander asked without losing his no nonsense tone of voice.

"Stephen Strange." She replied impressed a bit that he'd asked the right question.

"So, he give you anything more about this something big might have been or what this thing could be?" He asked sounding like he sensed that there was more than she was telling him.

"Nothing you need to worry about anymore, **boy**." Came a new voice to the conversation, causing both her and Xander to look in its direction.

Walking towards them in outfits that looked like a cross between military outfits and roman gladiator armor were six men and none of them looked friendly. They didn't look like they were armed at all but at the same time something told her that these guys were dangerous beyond what usually lived in this town. Moving her hand close to a sealing talisman Strange had given her just in case she waited to see what move the six unknowns made before she made her own move.

"And a great howdoyado to you too, Lurch." Xander said sarcastically before standing up, "Care to explain what you meant by that oh so vague statement?"

"Give me Tallus now and I might let you live, **kid**." The man, who was obviously the leader based on his fancier get up, demanded without really answering the question.

"And if I don't?" Xander asked taking a step to two away from his chair.

With that question a malevolent smile appeared on the leader's face that definitely didn't improve the situation any.

"Then you **DIE!**" the leader said with eyes that suddenly glowed bright orange.

This was all she needed to hear and, with speed and agility, she leapt over to Xander, grabbed him around the waist and then leapt as far as she could away from the menacing men. It was only half as far as she usually went but, considering the extra weight she'd been forced to carry, it was still respectable enough as far as she was concerned. With a second leap she carried both herself and Xander to the entrance of the kitchen with neither of them hesitating to seek cover inside. Bringing the sealing talisman out in front of her, she muttered the chant that Strange had taught her and, like magic, the trinket transformed into a sword. Smiling at the feel of her favorite weapon in her two-fingered hand, she decided that it was time to trim the numbers a bit before both she and Xander fled the immediate area. Turning towards him she was surprised a bit to see a butcher knife in his hand and eyes that spoke of an inner debate of possible course of action.

"Don't even think about it, cutie." She said sternly as she heard the six men advance towards the kitchen doors as the other restaurant patrons stampeded in the opposite direction towards the front door, "I don't know what sort of experience you have but something tells me that laser eyes are a bit out of your league."

"And they're in yours?" Xander asked challengingly, clearly unhappy at his past being belittled.

Rising into a low crouch with sword at the ready she replied "Oh yeah!"

&

_**The Restaurant's Kitchen, Twenty Seconds Later, Xander's P.O.V**_

_MAN! Can that she-devil __**move!**_ He thought as he watched Talia pinball around the room using anything and everything to change direction and evade the attacks of the six sorcerers that had come after the golden arm bracer in his hands.

At least he thought they were sorcerers since he didn't see any physical signs that they could be demons and definitely nothing resembling a vamp's game face. In any case, Talia was managing to keep the sick spell slinging sickos off balance were her acrobatics but he didn't think it'd last for much longer. At the moment distracting them was the best she was able to accomplish since every time she tried to get close enough to use that sword of hers she was forced to break away in order to avoid getting scorched. Definitely a problem when facing baddies who had eyes that could give Superman's heat vision a run for its money. The closer the blue skinned she-demon got, the harder it'd be to evade a blast and, from the looks of things, every one of the six mercs could do the heat vision thing. As such, sooner or later Talia would tire or make an error in trajectory and it would all be over except for the dying on both their parts. He knew that he had no hope of beating them himself so his only chance of survival was to provide an opening or six for Ms. Wagner to slice into the enemy ranks.

Putting the arm bracer on a steel table in the kitchen, he looked around for anything he could use to distract the enemy without exposing himself to fatal assaults. Spotting a rack of cooking knives, he quickly grabbed them and began looking for ones of similar shape and size to the ones in Giles' weapons locker. Unbeknownst to the Scoobies, he had tried practicing with just about every one of them at one time or another before deciding to settle on the more standard issue gear. While he had shown some talent with certain bladed weapons, the one that showed the best results for him had been small throwing knives. He'd set up a dart board on the railing of the library and then began to practice throwing blades at the center from varying distances. Six out of ten times he managed to hit near the center with only one actually hitting the center, but he considered it pretty good since he'd never officially been taught. Quickly discarding the ones that were either too heavy or not pointy enough, he picked up the five remaining ones and peeked over the only opening between the kitchen into the restaurant proper. Talia was still doing her pinball imitation but if the near misses were any indication, the six scumbags were getting her tempo down.

_Time to make my move!_ He thought as he threw one blade after another at the baddies with each sharp implement aimed at a different enemy's vital point.

While two of the six baddies were able to deflect, if not vaporize, the blades aimed at them, the others hit their marks with a surprising degree of accuracy. Even the one aimed at the leader hit its mark embedding itself in the left shoulder an inch or so. Then, as he'd hoped, Talia took advantage of the shift in the enemies focus from her to him to lunge into their midst to deliver a pair of slashes to their ranks. While this succeeded in killing one and seriously wounding another, the ground gained was quickly lost as a shockwave of energy was released by the rage of the surviving members. It knocked Talia to the far wall and from the looks of things disoriented her to the point where it'd take her a few moments to get her bearings back. Time she might not have as the surviving hired thugs removed the blades he'd thrown from their bodies and turned to face him.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that they planned on taking advantage of Baby Blue's disoriented state and focusing their efforts on their primary objective.

Ducking down just in time to avoid eight beams of deadly heat, he might not have seen them impact the microwave in the kitchen but the explosion that followed as a little hard to miss. It was then something caused him to look up and he saw the golden arm brace about to fall off the table he'd put it on. A workable plan entered his mind, one where he'd take this thing called Tallus and flee with it, and with desperation born of limited options he chose to go with it. Reaching out as quickly as he could for the object as it fell, he soon watched as in a moment of odds defying improbability his hand went through the center of the bracer rather than grabbing it by one of its sides. In seconds he found himself wearing the thing instead of holding it firmly in his hands and that was when the weirdness went way up for him. Seconds after the arm bracer known as Tallus settled on his forearm, it began to glow with a light that seemed a bit off to be magic.

"New commander confirmed. Scanning for vital statistics and saving to internal memory." Spoke the device in an artificial tone, "Warning! Foreign energy signature detected. Signature is of unknown type but conflicting with commander's natural abilities. Initiating countermeasures and attempting to rectify."

Vertigo unlike anything experienced by anyone on the face of the Earth overtook him with none of his five senses or his mind working right for several seconds. When all was said and done, odd could not begin to describe the new sensations and feelings he was experiencing. He felt much lighter, as though up until now he'd been wearing weights all his life, and for some reason his hands felt slightly off to him. Looking down he almost freaked out right then and there to find that his pinky fingers were now missing leaving him with only his thumb, pointer, middle and ring fingers on his hands. However he was not given time for a proper freak out because right then two of the four remaining thugs entered the kitchen with eyes smoldering with potent power. Pushing his hands against the floor he was surprised when instead of simply moving into a sitting position he wound up throwing himself backwards. However this was later counted as a good thing since moments after he moved the tiles below where his head had been were turned into boiling plastic. However slamming into one of the refrigerators was definitely not of the good as it was quite painful.

"Commander! The boy has become the bearer of Tallus!" Yelled one of the flunkies looking at him while the other glared at him like they were bitter enemies.

"Meddling **boy!** A change of plans my brothers." Growled the leader from the restaurant proper, "We're taking him with us. Take him!"

"Sorry guys but you're not taking the Xan-man anywhere!" He said as he grabbed the nearby fire extinguisher and threw it at the men in front of him.

Surprise was on his side since the two twits didn't blow the container up until it was almost right in their faces and by then it was too late. He hadn't expected it to actually make contact with the two idiots but rather to obscure the vision long enough for him to dive through the opening into the restaurant where the other two were as well as Talia. He had only moments to act before the leader of the band of six and his closest subordinate opened fire but thanks to his newly reduced weight and his experience with fighting demons moments were more than enough time to evade them. Tempering his movements so that they were not a repeat of the accident that had occurred in the kitchen, he leapt to the side sliding along a long table before sliding off the end. As this table had been erected for only temporary use that night it tilted upward once he reached the opposite end providing him with some cover from a second assault. It was only when two steak knives bounced off his shoulder into his right hand that he realized something hinky was going on.

_Either someone is watching all this and making sure I'm catching a few breaks or something's thrown the Harris luck into reverse._ He thought before he made sure he had a knife in each hand.

Whatever the case turned out to be it was probably the only way he'd make it out of here in one piece. Hearing the ones in the kitchen cursing and getting closer he knew he had to make a move sooner rather than later or else he'd get stuck in a four-on-one situation. Looking over in Talia's direction he could see that she had almost recovered but, judging from the way she was rubbing her head, she might have a concussion. The one bright spot though was that he saw a clear line of sight to the front door and Ms. Wagner was right next to the most direct route to the exit/entrance. Taking a deep breath, he surged around the table he'd been hiding behind and threw the steak knives he'd procured into two different directions. The first was aimed at the fire alarm switch while the other was aimed at the seriously wounded goon that up until then had been stayed out of the fighting. He didn't event bother to make sure the two blades successfully hit their targets before he charged for Talia who appeared to be taking in the situation for the first time. Bending down to scoop her up on the run he then ran for the door like the devil himself was after him. Given the heat blasts the four morons could fire from their eyes he wasn't sure if he was entirely mistaken with that idea.

"Xander? What's going on?" Blue Girl asked with some confusion since she still didn't have all the blanks filled in inside her head.

"Well basically I'm making like the heroic swashbuckler saving a damsel in distress before making with tactical retreat." He replied with his usual lopsided smile as he arrived at the ten foot mark from the exit/entrance.

"My hero!" She said with a great deal of humor but some honest mixed into her voice.

It was as he was no more than five feet from the exit/entrance that he felt the arm brace grow warm for a moment and he feared another bout of vertigo. He was both in luck and out of it for, instead of personal disorientation, a white doorway opened up in front of him and before he could stop himself both he as well as Talia passed through it. When he finally managed to come to a stop, he found himself in something that resembled Superman's Fortress of Solitude given its crystalline appearance. Both he and Talia looked around with the same question floating around in their minds.

What the **HELL** have I gotten myself into this time?


	30. Too Close For Comfort

"Too Close For Comfort" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"Too Close For Comfort" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

(This is a sequel drabble/short to 'An Outrageous Return!')

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material that appears in this drabble/short. It belongs to their respective creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this and do not plan to in the future.

Note: While I am sure that many of you hoped, prayed and performed live sacrifices to make sure that you had seen the last of this particular crossover your efforts have been in vain. While not one of my more addictive ideas fanfic-wise it is one that tends to flare up whenever I stumble across a fanfic that I think I'll enjoy at first but wind up despising because of its blatantly Buffy Bashing stance. I know that everyone has a right to their own opinion and that nothing I say/write will change the minds of those anti-Buffy people it still pisses me off when I read one of their fanfics. So while I doubt that this will ever evolve into a full fledged fanfic I will likely use it as my proverbial pressure valve whenever I read a fanfic with a hatchet job representation of Buffy in it. Trust me when I say that it's probably better this way than bottling it up and waiting for it to blow sky high when I'm writing one of my more important fanfics.

In any case it's time to get this show started…

_Too Close For Comfort_

_**Starlight Mansion/Slayer & Watcher Council New York Branch, 1:00a.m**_

_**Two Months After Premiering at The Bottom Line**_

"MAN! I never thought I'd see the day that doing anything other than slaying demons and vamps would wear a Slayer out like this!" Rona groaned as the band passed through the front door of the mansion, looking like bed was **the ONLY** destination.

"I hear ya! I thought they'd never let us leave." Buffy groaned as she closed the door behind the last of the potentials once the last of the gear was inside.

It'd been a rough night for them at their latest gig as J.A.T.H 2 but she was beginning to believe that they were getting the hang of being musicians. Over the course of the past two months they'd had no less than a dozen gigs with some being repeat performances at the same club. All in all it had been a new experience for everyone but it had earned some money, the use of which they were already beginning to see around the mansion. According to Xander, most of the work that had needed to be done to bring the place back up to spec was finished and all that was left was the custom additions needed for the Slayer side of things. Those additions, though, would be a little more expensive and take a little longer to put together than restoring the mansion had been. Still, it was progress and that was the one thing that kept her optimistic about how things would all turn out in the end. Looking around, she confirmed with the others that there was no one outside trying to peek inside and Willow confirmed that there were no eavesdropping devices present. Therefore it was time to drop the disguises so that the R&R could begin.

"Show's over, Synergy." She said after a gentle bit of pressure was exerted on her earrings to bring her connection to the state of the art machine from stand by to active.

With those words the holographic projections from the earrings faded turning Jenna, lead singer vocalist of the band, back into on Buffy Anne Summers. The others mimicked this using their own earrings, extras according to Synergy, changing from their stage personaes back to who they were. This had become the standard routine for them whenever they returned home or went somewhere after a performance. It was one of the most important rules that no one outside of Starlight Mansion or the core Scoobies could know who the members of J.A.T.H 2 really were. Giles had been a bit reluctant to keep such information from other more distant members of the new Council but she'd persuaded him by saying that a secret was best kept when the number of people who knew it was kept to a handful. After all that was one of the reasons for the band's existence, to allow four key members of the Council to move around unnoticed, and so steps had to be taken to minimize the chances of the truth coming out.

"Well I'm headed for the shower and then bed!" Dawn said as she headed towards the stairs, "See you guys in eight hours."

"Ditto. See you later Xan?" Rona asked with a small smile on her face.

"You know it." Xander said with an almost identical small smile on his face.

While her smile wasn't visible, she had to admit it was good that the two of them had finally gotten over the 'I like you but cannot come out and say it' phase. It had been a steady build up since their first performance but last week the two of them finally made a move and were nearly inseparable now. Fortunately, whether it was slayage or helping the band, being together was not a problem for those two so everything worked out alright in the end.

"I'm gonna go hand Giles the money from tonight's gig." She said as she kicked her shoes off, "He's probably in the mansion library alphabetizing his books still."

"Alright. See you tomorrow, Buffy." Willow said as she followed Rona upstairs most likely heading for bed as well.

Walking through the house, she could only grin at the lived in feeling that the place was finally starting to have. Prior to the arrival of some of the newbie Slayers, the place had been entirely too big for just the seven of them, leaving many areas unused save when they needed to fix something. Now that some neo-Slayers had moved in, the place was beginning to feel more like a home rather than just a vacant apartment building. Turning the final time, she pushed open the doors to the library to find her surrogate father doing precisely what she had predicted. It had been about an hour before they'd left to set up for their gig that Giles had told them he'd be in the library getting all the books in order. Considering that that was over six hours ago and she'd expected him to be almost done, it looked like he had stopped to read a few before putting them on the shelf. While some of the books had come from their collection in Sunnydale, others had been salvaged or taken from Watcher compounds overseas, so there were a few that the Brit probably hadn't read before.

"So how's the book shelving coming, Giles?" she asked as she walked up to the table her former Watcher was sitting behind.

"Oh! Um…quite well, actually. You've come back from your 'gig', I take it?" he asked, being somewhat startled by her arrival.

"Yep. Here's the money from tonight's performance." She said handing over the envelope of money the club's owner had given her.

Keeping with his role as official money manager of the new Council, the learned Brit took the envelope and, after taking a brief moment to count the money inside, placed it inside his coat pocket.

"So what does that bring us to now, Giles?" she asked as she sat down on the table in front of him, "I know me and the girls aren't exactly earning money hand over fist but it's been two months since we started this. Have we even made a dent in our money problems?"

"While we're not out of the woods yet, I must say that I am somewhat surprised at the amount of money you and the others have managed to earn performing." Giles replied sounding both surprised and a little annoyed, "Either the music business has become more profitable since I tried my hand at it or the gang and I back home were being royally ripped off."

"Heheheheh. Probably the former, Giles." She said with a bit of amusement over her man's words.

"In any case, with the restoration of the mansion completed and an amount set aside for day to day needs here, I believe that with the next 'gig' we can begin funneling money to Slayers and Watchers elsewhere." Rupert said, taking a moment to clean his glasses, "Still, if we wish to bring things back up to where they need to be, we're going to need to find a backer and soon. I've already received reports from several overseas Watchers that the demonic community is beginning to show signs of noticing our weakened state."

It had been one of the problems everyone had considered after Kennedy Gabor had yanked funding from the Council. With money stretched thin and getting reinforcements to the necessary areas being difficult at best, they had known that the demons would catch wind of things sooner or later. They had come up with and passed along some inventive ways of making the demons uncertain of their information concerning the status of the new Council but it wouldn't last long.

"Fortunately, though, we might have found a solution to that problem. While you and the others were out, I received a phone call from a Mr. Howard Sands, whom I believe Willow approached a week or so ago." Giles said keeping his voice neutral and thus his opinion, "He's interested in what she had to say but insists on meeting with you, Xander and Willow tomorrow afternoon to discuss things further."

"What? I mean I can understand him wanting to meet with Willow but why do me and Xander have to tag along?" she asked, a little puzzled by why some rich guy wanted to speak with her and Xan.

"Well, it might have something to do that with the fact that I entered you names in the official records as the primary representatives for the Wellness Foundation that is the public face of the new Council." Giles replied before putting his glasses back on, "When I began to search for the remaining assets of the old Council, I knew that it would be pointless to simply slip into their place and run things as they usually were. Too many of the key members of the old Council that knew how it worked were killed by the bomb the Bringers planted. Therefore I had to invent a brand new public face using what I knew of the old one as a template."

"But why name us as the head representatives? I am **SO** not representative material!" she protested since her memories of trying to coax money out of the Sunnydale bank after her mom died hadn't gone all that well even before the demon showed up.

"While I'll admit that you are somewhat lacking in some of the social graces, I was and still am confident that between the three of you you'll do fine." Giles said with the utmost confidence and reassurance, "Now, the appointment is at two in the afternoon at his home so I suggest you get some rest since I doubt it will make a positive first impression if you show up dead on your feet."

Seeing that he had all the bases covered and too tired to think up anything to counterattack, she sighed before nodding in acceptance of where she'd be and what she'd be doing in thirteen hours. Thus, with a goodnight hug to Giles, she exited the library and headed for her room where Mr. Gordo was waiting for her along with some much needed Z's.

&

_**On the Front Steps of the Home of Howard Sands, 1:55p.m**_

"Quit fidgeting Buffy! You look fine!" Willow whispered with annoyance at how her blonde friend was constantly readjusting her formal meeting outfit.

"I'm not fidgeting! It's just that this outfit is so confining." She said before trying her best to ignore her discomfort, "And it itches."

"Well just put up with it. We're about to have one of the most important meetings we'll probably have all year and blowing it is not an option." Willow said with full resolve face on.

Hearing footsteps approaching from the other side of the door, everyone gave the person closest to them a final look over to make sure nothing was out of place before putting their best business faces on. When the door opened, they were greeted by an elderly looking butler but, if one took the time to look him in the eye, they could easily see a sharpness of mind more suited to someone half his age.

"Hello Daniels. How are you today?" Willow asked, taking the lead role of the three person group.

"Quite well Ms. Rosenberg. I assume this is Ms. Summers and Mr. Harris?" Daniels asked with a reserved smile before looking at the blonde Slayer and the one eyed ex-carpenter.

"Yes. Xander's in charge of maintenance and construction for the Foundation and Buffy…is usually the one to meet with the families of potential students." Willow said stumbling a bit when it came to a description of what Buffy did.

"Very good. Mr. Sands is waiting for you in main living room. Follow me." Daniels said before turning and walking away.

Entering the mansion, she could see certain similarities to Starlight mansion but it was clear that while the former home of the Holograms had been top of the line back in the early nineteen nineties, Howard Sands' place had clearly been upgraded to fit with the times. Cutting edge entertainment system, security system and furniture that would probably require that they sell Starlight Mansion in order to get just one piece. All in all, she was overwhelmed by how the place just screamed 'money' and 'success' that she just walked along in awe following the person ahead of her. Eventually they arrived at the main living room and she got her first look at their potential backer. It was clear from the gray sliding into the sides of his head of hair that he was no longer the young man he once was but he still looked like he could do his job and do it well.

"Ms. Rosenberg! I'm glad you and your friends were able to make it." Sands said before gesturing for them to sit down across from him, "Is there anything I can have Daniels bring you? Food? A drink?"

"Well a Twinkie wouldn't be—" Xander began to say but a subtle elbow stopped him, "Nah. We're good Mr. Sands."

"Pastries it is then. Daniels?" Sands said smiling slightly at the exchange between the two obviously close friends.

"At once, sir." Daniels said before leaving the room to do as he had been bid.

Willow took a moment to glare at Xander before she re-schooled her features and turned back towards Mr. Sands.

"I was told by Mr. Giles that you had some more questions for us Mr. Sands. What would you like to know?" Willow asked in a professional tone of voice.

"Well first I'd like to know a little bit more about what your Foundation would do for these young girls." Sands replied getting down to business, "I know you said that your organization is aimed at aiding those girls with extraordinary potential in the areas of athletics or academics. What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well, while there are numerous charities and organizations out here that deal in scholarships, they only see the ones that are brought to their attention. We believe that there are young women out there who have great potential but lack the means to make the most of it." Willow replied, sounding surprisingly professional, "Instead of waiting for these girls to come to our attention, we will be going out and looking for them."

"An interesting stance and reason enough why you would need significant funds. How would the parents of these girls be approached, Ms. Summers?" Sands asked, turning from Willow and looking right at the blonde Slayer.

"Well…I would begin by making it clear that it would be the young woman's choice first and foremost while, at the same time, taking the desires of the parents into account." She replied after a moment's hesitation, "We will attempt to persuade the parents with words at first as well as information packets about the Foundation and, as a last effort invite them to tour the nearest Foundation compound."

"And if that fails?" Sands asked, giving away nothing about what his current position on the matter was.

"We'll leave contact information in case they ever change their minds but, aside from that, we will respect their decision." She replied, oddly surprised at how easy this was coming to her.

"And if they change their minds after admitting their daughter?" Howard asked while stroking his chin.

"We will request that they explain their reasons but, if they refuse to answer, we will reluctantly concede to their decision. After all, if their reason for withdrawing their daughter is something the Foundation could help with, we would definitely want to learn more." She replied, carefully measuring her answers so there'd be no mistakes.

"Good. Now Mr. Harris, I assume that the facilities that the Foundation will employ will be nothing but the best?" Sands asked, now directing his attention to the one-eyed ex-carpenter.

"Yes they will. While I will not be handling everything live and in person, I will make sure that the Foundation's branches and homes will be durable and conducive to the reason the young ladies will be there." Xander replied, sounding a little more informal than his blonde and redheaded friends had been, "I plan on making a point of inspecting every facility I come within a days drive of and making sure that they're kept up to my standards."

"And those standards would be?" Mr. Sands asked with interest.

"That each building be built to last at least ten years with precautions in place to deal with any natural or unnatural phenomenon that might do some damage." Xander replied with conviction, "Each compound will also have its own fully stocked infirmary just in case something happens that can't wait for an ambulance to arrive. I'd want for each building to be as safe and productive as possible."

"A good conviction to have. How many facilities and compounds to you have at the moment?" Howard asked as he got to the crucial parts for any financial backer.

"At present we have roughly four main facilities in most of the major countries with one or two smaller branches in the smaller and less populated countries." Willow replied drawing on her computer like brain for the answers, "So in total we're probably looking at forty to forty-five main facilities with twenty smaller ones."

"Not very large but also modest, considering the task you've set out for yourselves." Sands said looking like he was right on the fence as far as which way he'd go with his decision, "Tell you what! I'm holding a dinner party for a few of my friends and business partners this weekend. Send me a fair sampling of the sort of talented young women that you seek to help with your Foundation and I'll let that be the deciding vote. Sound fair?"

"Yes it does, Mr. Sands." Willow replied with an encouraged smile, "How soon should we let you know who we're sending?"

"Oh, no need to make things that strict! Just call ahead before they leave and I'll make sure to inform Daniels to let them in." Sands said sounding like he preferred a more informal way of handling things.

"Consider it done, Mr. Sands." Willow said extending her hand for a shake.

"Very well, then. Please stay at least for a small snack before you go." Mr. Sands said as Daniels came in with pastries and drinks, "I'd be a poor host if I let you leave without something to eat and drink."

Both she and Willow looked at Xander, knowing full well that all the young man was waiting for was their permission before descending on the array of pastries with a vengeance. Deciding that if Mr. Sands was offering and it was only a snack, then they cold let themselves slip out of their representative roles for a little while.

"We'd be glad to, Mr. Sands" Willow said before as one the three core founding members of the Scooby gang walked over to the array of fatty pastries to see if anything struck their fancy.

&

_**Two Hours Later, Starlight Mansion aka New Watcher's Council NYC Branch**_

"So who're we going to send?" Xander asked as the core Scoobies plus some of the more experience neo-Slayers sat around the kitchen table.

"A difficult decision considering how much it will affect our future." Giles said sipping on his cup of tea, "First impressions are everything as you know. While my first choice would be to send some of the newly called Slayers who've arrived recently, most of them only have a loose grip on the English language. While this might be helpful as it will show how truly international the Wellness Foundation is, it could also make things somewhat unclear if the girls couldn't clearly state their answers."

It was a nasty side-effect of being forced to squeeze neo-Slayers into as few branches of the Council as possible in order to reduce costs as best they could. Many of the girls were forced to leave the areas where they'd grown up and while the majority could stay in areas that spoke the same language as them others weren't so lucky. Some of the Slayers they'd found had been homeless and looked like they needed a more extensive portion of help than the field offices could provide at the moment. Therefore it had been decided that they'd come here, to where the core of the Council resided, in order to ensure they got that help. Like Giles had stated, many of them only had a loose command of the English language, based mostly on movies and TV dialogue, and it could lead to misinterpretations and the like when questioned at the party.

There were a few girls outside of this core group who could speak clear English but those were usually the more experienced ones who'd need to stay close to HQ. They were the ones who knew enough foreign languages that they were able to communicate with the rest of the girls who spoke poor English. They were the heads of the patrol groups that were scheduled to make passes at the local cemeteries the night of the party at Mr. Sands' place, so they were unavailable. While some might say they could simply pull the girls in question off field command duty, Giles didn't think it'd be a good idea making last minute changes like that. Many of the girls who went on patrol with the field commanders were comfortable with their commanders and a substitute could lead to problems in the field.

"Why can't you core 'Scoobies' go?" Asked Britney, an experienced neo-Slayer from Texas, "You guys are pretty much the head honchoes of the new Council, right?"

"Yes, Britney, but the whole purpose of the sending of girls to the party is to show Mr. Sands and his guests the sort of young women that will be living in our facilities." Giles replied professionally as he put his cup down onto its saucer, "While Dawn and Rona would be new faces, it could be construed as an attempt at deception if Buffy or Willow were to show up. At most, we could only Willow along with the group of girls as a sort of chaperone or information source in case Mr. Sands had further technical questions about the Wellness Foundation."

It made just about everyone get a small headache as they tried to deal with the PR problem they had been handed. Most of them were used to the slayage side of things but were completely new to the whole office politics side of things and the things that were necessary to keep the Council functioning behind the scenes. There was the public face they had to provide to potential backers like Mr. Sands and then there were the negotiations they had to do with foreign governments in order to bypass the red tape. Then, of course, came the slayage equipment that they were determined to upgrade **way** past what had been standard issue during the reign of Quinten Travers. Unlike that bastard, they were determined that the Slayers under their version of the Council would be fully equipped to handle the threats they fought. Not only the old fifteenth century methods would be used but also some more modern ideas that Willow and Xander had been cooking up in their spare time. They were still a long way from incorporating firearms into their weapons lockers or James Bond like doo-dads, but Giles would often respond to their ideas as 'quite innovative' so they couldn't have been too bad.

"Hey! What if we send J.A.T.H 2 over?!" Dawn exclaimed as a light bulb came on in her head.

Rona and Xander looked like they'd back the idea but a pair of stern looks from both Willow as well as Giles put an immediate damper on things.

"While I can understand how that might look to be a promising idea, we must keep in mind that it is important that the band remain low profile." Giles stated as though he'd been preparing for a situation like this for a while now, "J.A.T.H 2 is, after all, primarily a means of core Council members to travel from place to place undetected as well as a source of income until we acquire a financial backer. Having them show up at a gathering such as this would only raise public interest in them and, should they perform there, any hope of maintaining a low profile would become extremely difficult."

"Not if they go in formal wear." Britney said, determined to get Dawn's idea accepted, "After all, there are certain things that rock bands just don't wear at a gig and if they tone down the make-up a bit, no one except Mr. Sands and them will know they're musicians. After all, what are the chances that anyone at this party will recognize them from The Bottom Line or the other clubs?"

"She's got a point, Giles. Aside from a few pieces of arm candy, the people at the part are probably going to be old people who probably think Jackie Brenston is still cool." Xander said, throwing his weight behind the brunette Texan and Dawn-patrol, "Plus what're the odds that they'll have instruments to play at this party? Sands couldn't expect **Jenna** and company to get up and perform if there was nothing for them to play."

"So you see? This is a perfect way of putting our best foot forward." Dawn said with a smile at how she had supporters for her idea, "This way Willow and Buffy can control things all the way through without anyone being the wiser."

It was quite easy to tell that Giles had gone from opposing the idea to actually considering it as an option. Quite an achievement all things considered but still far from permission granted and aide given. One more person would have to step forward in support of the idea before the Brit Watcher would cave in.

"I suppose it'd be okay Giles. After all without instruments or band outfits we should blend in pretty good with everyone else at the party." Buffy said figuring that a little sisterly solidarity was needed, "Even if there are reporters there what're the chances of them snapping a picture of us or showing up on our doorstep if they do?"

Seeing that he was being completely outmaneuvered Giles had no choice but to cave.

"Very well. However please do your best to remain on task during the party and not attract any unnecessary attention." Giles said knowing that this was one battle he had lost to his surrogate children.

"Of course, Giles!" the girls said as one.

A sign of impending doom if ever there was one.

&

_**The Estate of Howard Sands, Three Days Later**_

"Well this isn't exactly what I expected." Buffy aka Jenna said as they looked about the backyard of the estate, "Do you think we're a **tad** overdressed?"

It was a perfectly justifiable question considering that everyone else was either in bathing suits jumping into the large pool or clothes that rich people would consider laid back or casual wear. When they had come to the party they'd assumed it'd be mostly business people and big time players in the music industry that'd be attending. As such they had dressed in semi-formal wear like the type you'd see movie stars and musicians wear to press conferences or interviews. Needless to say they stood out a bit and despite the fact that they all subconsciously did their best to remain calm and casual they soon turned a few heads as they made their way across to where they could see Howard Sands. As they walked through the crowds they did their best to be polite to the other guests and interacted as needed but always with the goal of getting to Mr. Sands. While it might be fun to mingle with the other party-goers they knew they had to get their primary mission accomplished before any fun could be had.

As more of the crowd cleared they could see a teenage girl standing close to their potential backer and hoped that she wasn't his date otherwise they would have to seriously re-evaluate their opinion of the man. They certainly didn't act like a couple or even a man and his bimbo but that could just mean that they were smart enough to keep it behind close doors. In any case it didn't take them long to be noticed by the man and immediately he put on his best friendly businessman face.

"Ms. Lang, I presume?" Howard Sands asked as he held out his hand to her.

"Yes Mr. Sands but please call me Jenna." She said wanting to keep the discussion in keeping with the informal theme of the party.

"Only if you call me Howard." Howard said with some humor in his voice.

"Sure thing, George." Jenna said smiling with equal humor, "Let me introduce you to the rest of my little group. First we have my sister, Sinder Lang, next is Shala Ellis, then Ana Livingston and I'm sure you remember Xander from earlier. Ms. Summers sent him along as chaperone but personally I think he's just here for the food."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'll be watching you ladies like a hawk all night to make sure you don't get into any trouble." Xander replied with mock indignation before smiling, "Besides, it can't hurt to find out how the other half eat right?"

"Not at all, Xander. Please feel free to eat your fill." Howard said with a permissive tone, "There's plenty to go around. Now, how about you ladies tell me about yourselves."

As the others began to go through the prepared biographies that had been drawn up for their band identities she couldn't help but notice the odd scrutiny that the teenage redhead standing close to Mr. Sands was giving them. It wasn't a suspicious look like the girl thought that they were up to something but rather like someone who wanted to know where they had seen someone before and wanted to know badly. The blonde Slayer did her best to think back on the last few months to see if they had indeed met the girl before but so far nothing came to mind. However as Fate would have it the girl suddenly had a look of recognition pop onto her face implying that the elder Summers girl would soon have her answer.

"You guys are J.A.T.H 2!!" The teenage girl exclaimed with excitement and perhaps a little bit of fan admiration in her voice.

None of those present thought of this as a good turn of events.

"Well… yes we are." She said, not knowing what could be gained by claiming the girl was mistaken, "Have we met before?"

"No but I've been to almost every club you've played at since The Bottom Line!" the teenage girl replied almost bouncing with excitement, "You guys are **GREAT!**"

"Well it seems my niece knows more about you than I do, Jenna." Howard said with a bit of chuckling at the antics of his redheaded niece, "So you four are a band?"

"Yes. As Willow might have told you, up until a couple of months ago the Wellness Foundations main backer was the Gabor family." Shala explained while watching herself to make sure she didn't sound too much like her real self, "But their representative began to go past what she was supposed to be doing so we tried to remind her that she was just there to make sure things went smoothly between the Foundation and the Gabors. She didn't take it well and convinced her family to pull all funding.

"So while the Foundation is far from bankrupt, George, we needed some way to make ends meet, even if it was just with the NYC branch." She said, trying to keep them all from sounding like they were on welfare or something equally bad, "So me and the girls decided to put our musical talents to good use by performing at the local clubs."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised that the Gabor family pulled their funding after you put your foot down to one of them. Harvey has always had a problem putting his foot down when it comes to the women in his family and it sounds like things haven't improved since his daughter, Phyllis, was in the music business." Howard said with genuine dislike of the Gabor family in his voice, "Still, it's admirable that you're willing to go so far to help the Foundation and that you're willing to stand by your morals. Not many people in the music business these days have that kind of integrity in them."

For a moment silence reigned between the millionaire music mogul and the representatives of the Wellness Foundation aka the New Watcher's Council. However a look of commitment came over Howard's face and a determination to see something through no matter what.

"Well I've made my decision. You can tell Ms. Summers and Ms. Rosenberg that they can count on my financial backing of the Wellness Foundation." Howard stated with his dedication to that decision clear in his voice, "I'll get my lawyers to begin drawing up the contract first thing in the morning and you can expect to have it delivered within the week."

Everyone, from her to Xander, was surprised at this sudden decision since they had all come here, expecting that they'd have to spend most of the night talking to the man before he'd make a decision about whether or not to back the Foundation. To hear him say he'd sign on with them after just a few minutes of talking was completely unexpected. Their surprise must have been quite evident on their faces since both himself and his niece laughed a bit at the looks on their faces. Eventually, though, Howard's face took on the look of a true businessman as well as a caring person.

"Don't look so surprised. I've already made some inquiries about the Foundation and I am convinced that you genuinely mean to help these gifted girls. Add to that the choice you made not to be blackmailed into becoming just another puppet of the Gabor family and you pretty much had my support right then and there." Howard said before his caring nature took control from his business savvy, "The fact that my niece Alice is a fan of yours was just the icing on the cake."

"Thank you, Howard! I promise you that the Wellness Foundation won't make you regret this!" she said with a great amount of gratitude as she took his hand with both of hers and shook it excitedly.

"I'm sure you won't, Jenna." Howard said extracting his hand and rubbing it a bit to recover from the strong grip the young woman had.

"Can you guys sing one of your songs? Pllleeeaasseeeee!!" Alice asked, looking like she'd beg them for however long it took to get them to say yes.

"I wish we could, Alice, but seeing as how we left all our gear back home. Sorry." She said hoping that the lack of equipment would put a stop to a potential problem right then and there.

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem. I already have speakers set up to play music and I have a private studio in my house with some instruments." Howard said sounding like he was interested in hearing the band play that had his niece so excited, "It'd take a few minutes to get everything set up, but it's doable."

With this bit of news the difficulty of avoiding a performance became that much harder but they still made an effort to squeeze out of it.

"Are you sure your other guests won't mind?" Shala, aka Willow, asked, using the only other card they had to play, "I know not everyone likes the kind of music we play."

"Don't worry. Some of us might look like boring old men but we still know good music when we hear it." Howard said with a smile at his bit of self-depreciating humor, "After all, none of us would still be in business if we didn't know how to keep an open mind when it comes to the musical tastes of the people."

With their final neutral card trumped she could tell that the others were thinking the same thing as her at that moment. There was no way that they could slink out of this without offending the very man who'd just agreed to save them financially and his niece. They couldn't play the sick card since all through the discussion none of them had been acting the least bit ill so that made the 'I do not feel so well' excuse lacking in credibility. It'd be a one in a million chance that someone would call them on the phone in the next five seconds telling them they were needed back at the mansion and she couldn't use Synergy to cause a distraction since she didn't know how that might affect things.

In the end they had no choice but to get ready to put on an unanticipated performance.

Giles was going to kill them!

&

_**Fifteen Minutes Later, **_

_**A Position in the Crowd Gathered Around a Hastily Constructed Stage**_

_Looks like Lady Luck is smiling on me tonight! _Lin-Z thought as she watched four very recognizable ladies take their positions behind instruments that had been moved up there five minutes earlier.

She had originally been invited along with several other influential people in the music industry as gathering meant to allow for collaborations to be born as well as friendly interaction. For her, though, she had come with the intention of investigating the rumor she'd heard that Howard Sands was considering resurrecting the old Battle of the Bands event that had launched the careers of several musicians. While the original one back in eighty-five had lasted for five years, occurring on an annual basis, it hadn't been done since and so it was big news if the rumors were true. Personally, she thought it was a great idea to give undiscovered talent a chance to perform at such a high profile event since the only thing many of those musicians lacked was a real chance to show what they could do. She had been putting together a way to corner Sands when his niece wasn't around when she'd first noticed activity over where the large speakers had been playing background music for the party. For a moment she thought that Sands might be preparing to make some sort of big announcement but that had been shot down when things more associated with a band's performance made their way on stage. It hadn't been until she'd noticed the group of four young women standing close to the stage that she'd caught on to what was really going on.

Ever since her friend Video had told her about the undiscovered band playing at The Bottom Line, she'd been trying to find out more about them. After all, if they played half as good as the music video director claimed, then they had to have performed **somewhere** before. However, no matter what club or what recording company she contacted, none of them had ever heard of J.A.T.H 2 or anyone matching their description.

This had been something of a mystery for her and, much like a news journalist, she didn't like mysteries or unanswered questions. For the past two months she tried to either catch one of their performances or find out where they lived but her boss at the TV station always made sure she had something else to do. To suddenly come across them was a stroke of good luck, especially since she'd had the foresight to bring one of the best digital cameras money could buy with her to the party. It had been her intention to use it to catch confirmation of the rumor on tape from Howard Sands himself but now she had a much bigger story to catch with it. As she saw Howard Sands walk to the center of the stage, presumably to introduce the band, she got the camera ready and made sure it had plenty of battery time as well as storage space.

"Well everyone, I know this is something you didn't see coming but then that's the mark of a good businessman, right? To show people something they didn't know they wanted?" Howard Sands asked, addressing everyone as though they were all good friends, "Well, in a stroke of good luck I have something that I think you'll enjoy more than just some songs that you've probably already heard to death on the radio. These young ladies have only recently stepped on the path of set down by musicians past but I think you'll find that they have it in them to redefine the music industry like few bands before them. I present to you…J.A.T.H 2!!"

With that music began to fill the air that held both a sense of familiarity and newness that was an oddly pleasing mix. However it was when she captured the first words from the band that she realized that Sands hadn't been exaggerating the potential on that stage.

"Ooh, ooh, mood I'm in! Ooh, ooh, mood I'm in!" Chanted the band behind the lead vocalist.

"I can be whoever I want to, anyone at all." The lead singer sang moving across the stage with unrivaled grace, "I can strut, when I want to strut, Or hide behind a parasol!"

It was with these opening lyrics that she immediately identified the song as one of the hits first produced by Jem and the Holograms years ago. She knew that there'd probably be some trouble in the future for this band, considering the songs were probably copyrighted or trademarked by someone, but she wasn't too worried. According to her memories, Kimber Benton had been the main songwriter for the Holograms and most of the rights to the music were probably owned by her. However, while there had been no official statement that the backup vocalist was dead, there was also not a single scrap of information indicating that she was still alive either. She had dropped almost completely out of sight a little over ten years ago and not even her friends in the news business had been able to find where she was at present.

"It all depends on the mood I'm wearin', It all depends on the mood I'm in." the Vocalist, known as Jenna, sang turning to walk towards the other end of the stage, "I can be beautiful, or truly outrageous, it all depends on the mood I'm in!"

"Ooh, ooh, mood I'm in! Ooh, ooh, mood I'm in!" chanted the backup vocalists, Sinder and Shala, from their positions behind the keyboard synthesizer and drums.

So, while there was the possibility that Kimber might put up a legal stink about the Holograms songs being sung by another band without permission, it was a slim possibility. As for the other Holograms, it would be interesting to see their reactions to the band on stage, especially since her keen eyes could see some similarities between the musicians of J.A.T.H 2 and the Holograms. It wasn't obvious but there were definitely a striking resemblance present, making her wonder if they might be related in some way. Estimating the ages of the young ladies on stage to be around twenty-three years old, so the possibility of them being the daughters of the Holograms were nil. Younger siblings perhaps? There was no record of any of the Holgrams having younger siblings aside from Kimber and Jerrica Benton, but that didn't necessarily mean it wasn't still a possibility. The number of long lost sisters/brothers/etc showing up all the time elsewhere in the entertainment industry was proof enough of that.

"Off I go in search of adventure, anytime I chose! I wear heels, if that's how it feels!" Jenna sang before resuming a positing center stage, "Or else I wear my blue suede shoes!"

Regardless of who they were related to or whose songs they sung, it was clear to her ears that these girls had some definite talent that definitely needed to be heard. However it'd be tough to sell it to the movers and shakers at the TV station, especially with only a single performance caught on digital camera. Even with the piece of tech being state of the art and the newest model available to the public, it wasn't the same as having an official news camera or microphone present to capture everything. She supposed she could try to have one of the tech guys go over it and try and clean it up a bit more but they had limits on how much they could do. Still, if she called in some markers and perhaps agreed to concede one or two things when her contract renewal came up, she just might be able to get this on the air.

"It all depends on the mood I'm wearin', it all depends on the mood I'm in!" Jenna said as she prepared to wrap up the song with a flourish, "I can be beautiful, or truly outrageous, it all depends on the mood I'm in!"

"It all depends (On the mood I'm in!)" sang both Jenna and her fellow musicians.

With the conclusion of the song, there wasn't a still hand in the entire audience because everyone was showing their appreciation for the performance they had just seen. If her hands hadn't been busy catching everything on her digital camera, she would have been clapping as well because it truly was a magnificent performance. Shutting down and closing up the camera so it wasn't spotted by the ladies on stage, she decided to slip out of the party early and get back to the office. She had a show to do tomorrow and it'd probably take her every minute until then to grease the wheels with the higher ups and have the tech people spruce up the footage.

One way or another, her show would definitely make waves tomorrow.

&

_**Tomorrow Afternoon, **_

_**Starlight Mansion aka NYC Branch of the New Watcher's Council, Living Room**_

"Well, looks like our money troubles are over." Xander said from his position on the floor in front of the TV, a bowl of over sugared snacks with him, "With this Sands guy signing on, we can get back to worrying about the usual things like the demon of the week and the spring-summer apocalypse."

"You gotta wonder about us when we consider things like killer demons and the end of the world normal." Rona said from her position on the couch behind him, "Still, it'll be nice to not have to get on stage so often. I mean, with Mr. Sands footing the bill we don't have to perform unless we have to get somewhere all stealthy-like."

"It'll definitely mean fewer performances, but we won't be able to stop completely or even just limit things to sneaking into towns." Willow said from her laptop computer next to the coffee table, "The band is what got Mr. Sands to sign on even if he won't admit it, so it'd probably be trouble if we just let the whole thing fade away by the end of the month."

"True but, personally, I've been having a blast on stage." Buffy said in her sweats on the couch, "Even if we never make it to the big time, I'm still living a childhood dream of mine. Do you think if we could've, that we'd be good enough to hit the big time?"

Rona was about to answer but, when the sound of running elephant feet filled the air, she stopped right then and there. Looking towards the entrance to the living room, they were a little concerned when Dawn came in with a look of anxiety on her face.

"I don't think we'll have to wait long to find out!" Dawn exclaimed, confirming that she'd heard the last exchange of words, "Check this out!"

With a bit more aggression than needed, she pried the TV remote out of her sister's hands she immediately changed the channel to a local station.

The reason for this became blatantly obvious when they saw what was being shown on the TV.

It was them!

Or, rather, it was J.A.T.H 2 on the TV screen with the footage clearly having been recorded last night at George Sands' party.

"What the **fuckin'** hell!?" Buffy exclaimed in both surprise and a little anger.

"I know! I've been watching Lin-Z TV for the last couple of weeks being all nostalgic about how we were following in the Holograms' footsteps." Dawn explained as their TV selves continued to sing on the TV, "I was just watching the latest music video when Lin-Z started talking about an up and coming band then this came on!"

"She was at the party! She was at the party and taped us!" Willow said with growing worry about how this would affect their lives, "Either that or someone she knows did it but either way we're in trouble!"

"No kidding! This is one of the most popular shows on TV." Rona said showing significant concern but keeping herself from freaking out entirely, "We're going to be nationwide news thanks to this!"

"Now let's not jump to conclusions here." Xander said, trying to remain calm and objective as well as pass those traits onto the others, "The footage isn't great and aside from a few clubs, no one else has seen you girls play. There's reason to believe that this won't end right here with this one showing. I mean tons of bands try to make it to the big leagues and ninety percent of them don't make it at all. What're the chances we'll be the ones to beat the odds?"

&

_**Miami, Florida**_

_**Local High School, Girls Locker Room**_

It had been a good training session for the high schools female basketball team and, seeing how well they were coming together, she couldn't help but feel some pride. While she'd always have a team, it was tough to see girls she'd coached move on once they graduated. Fortunately she'd always have a new group to get to know and mould into a winning team so any sadness she felt seeing the old team leave didn't last long. With the current roster, she knew they'd stand a good chance of winning the state championships and then maybe move onto the nationals if they played their cards right. It'd been awhile since the school could say that it had a national championship team, much less one composed entirely of girls, but it'd be good for everyone if they could do it.

Walking out of her office, she was curious at the sight of some of her best players all grouped around a portable TV at the far end of the locker room. While Nancy occasionally brought one with her to practice, none of the others had been especially interested in looking over the girls shoulder to watch as well. Interested in finding out what was so entertaining, she walked towards them and soon began to hear something that struck a chord within her. At first it was nothing she could identify but, as she drew closer and the voices that accompanied the music became louder, the difficulty vanished. It wasn't until she was right behind them though allowing her to look over their shoulders that the real bomb hit. There on the screen was an amateur video of a band performance with the girls featured in it looking disturbingly familiar.

Familiar in that if it had been fourteen years ago that it would have been her playing the guitar and doing backup vocals.

_How is this possible? _Aja Leith thought with confusion as she watched the amateur music video come to a close.

It wasn't the song itself that bothered her because she had heard more than her fair share of bands sing their songs. No, it was the resemblance that existed between the young women on stage and the Holograms of old. Certain facial features were unmistakable and if those weren't Jemstar earrings they were wearing, she'd eat the sweaty socks of her entire team. What that implied went against everything she could remember. Synergy had been destroyed completely and, despite everything she'd tried in the aftermath, she'd been unable to restore the hologram generating computer.

_Whatever's going on, I gotta let the others know!_ She thought as she ran back into her office and took out her address book in search of two important phone numbers.

&

_**A Mansion outside of Washington D.C**_

"What is this?" Breathed a man who had been retired from the music business for years.

Walking towards the plasma screen TV in his luxurious lounge wearing only a bathrobe, he tried to tell if his eyes were indeed playing tricks on him. On the TV screen, singing one of the songs he listened to in private whenever he wanted to remember the old days, was what looked to be a ghost from his past. It had been years since he'd seen a face even close to the one before him and the resemblance to the perfect woman he'd pursued years earlier was uncanny. He knew not where this young woman came from and yet her face stirred within him an old pain that hurt him greatly on the sorrow filled day. Despite her constant rejection, he had never once ceased to desire her and when news came of her disappearance following the death of the Benton woman, he spent a small fortune looking for her. With every day that passed with no results, he tried to imagine the pain she must have been feeling and how it had caused her to vanish without a trace. While he had never had a similar relationship with Eric Raymond, he could see how his lost love could have felt truly grief ridden at the loss of her longtime friend.

Now, out of the blue, this young lady appeared and while her age denied her the title of daughter to his former infatuation it still stirred something within him. Now he was no longer content to just enjoy the wealth he had acquired during his music career but, rather, he wanted to find out just who J.A.T.H 2's members were, especially their lead vocalist.

"Something catch your interest, husband?" Came the voice of his wife as she slinked into the room with only a bed sheet to cover her still breathtaking body.

"Indeed it has, Rapture." Replied the man formerly known as Riot of The Stingers, "Indeed it has."

&

_**The Gabor Mansion, Outside of NYC**_

"What the hell is Xander doing there!?" Kennedy Gabor asked with both anger and shock as she watched the video play out on TV.

It had been months since she had left those nobodies behind and begun making preparations to form her own Council with herself as the overall queen. It had been a major pain trying to put the right spin on things to get Auntie Pizzazz to fund her idea but, thankfully, the thrall spell she'd dug out of that slut Willow's magic books had done the trick in the end. With the spell in place, the old hag only had to actually consider doing as she asked to get the spell to activate, thus pushing her the rest of the way to agreement. She was already in the process of getting all the guns and weapons they'd need but since they were getting them on the black market, it'd take a few more weeks before they'd arrive. Until then, she'd have to keep the sheep she'd lured away from that old fossil Giles and that bitch Buffy Summers happy in order to ensure their obedience. She had been completely confident when she'd walked out of the Cleveland HQ of the 'New Council' that it'd only be a matter of weeks before the rest of the girls there wised up. After all, why have to live at a level barely above poverty when you could enjoy the best that money could buy.

However, while there had been a few newcomers begging for a place in her new regime, it hadn't been the number she'd predicted. It has puzzled her many a time but she'd just written it off as a sign of some pathetic last minute effort by the Bitch to hold onto her position is Queen of Slayers. Now, though, it could be something much worse and much more threatening to her overall plan, especially if those losers managed to get the backing of Sands. She'd heard tales from her Aunt about how the man had played favorites back when the Misfits were still something to be proud of in the music business. If the asshole did pull the fossil and the bitch out of their financial woes, no more newbie Slayers would come to her begging to be allowed to bask in her glory.

This had to be stopped.

NOW!

And, thanks to her thoughts revolving around Auntie Pizzazz, she knew just how to go about it.

&

_**Chicago, Illinois**_

_**The Kitchen of Your Typical Middle Class American Family**_

"Chrissie! Turn off the TV and do your homework!" Jessica Ryan yelled to her eleven year old daughter from the kitchen.

"Just a couple more minutes mom! I want to see the rest of Lin-Z's show!!" Her daughter Chrissie yelled back from the living room.

It was a typical discussion that happened at least twice a week with her oldest daughter and, while she could eventually get the little lady to do her homework like she'd been told, it only happened after she walked into the room and physically turned off the TV. Despite her desire for her daughter to get a good education, she was still pleased to see her little darling taking an interest in music. All the recitals and school plays clearly showed that the little black haired girl had inherited her talent in that area, making her little star a joy to listen to. However, she was going to make sure that her daughter put her education first and her love for music second one way or the other. Despite it being over ten years later, the music industry still caused a painful throb in her heart and she'd be damned before she let music take something else from her.

It was as she was finishing washing the last of the dishes though that the painful throb turned into a jabbing pain as music from long ago filled the air. Gripping denial tightly with both hands, she briskly walked into the living room to look for proof that her ears were deceiving her. However that was not to be because there being played on the show of an old friend was a sight that caused her body to start to tremble. The instruments, the looks and the music were all so familiar with each one of them causing the ghost pain within her to get stronger and stronger.

It couldn't be!

She destroyed that accursed machine!

Synergy was **DEAD**!

DEAD!

Dead like her sister had been for over a decade.

Jessica Ryan, formerly known as Kimber Benton, could only watch in horror and anger as her past came back to haunt her.

What was she supposed to do now?


	31. Odds and Obstacles

"Odds and Obstacles" by Ryley Breen aka Shadow Master

"Odds and Obstacles" by Ryley Breen aka Shadow Master

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown herein. They are the rightful property of their individual creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever. I write for my own personal enjoyment and whatever enjoyment the readers experience reading my work.

Note: I have decided that since, again, DragonHulk didn't tie down any particular point in the timeline for the Marvel half of things I will have this one take place in a reality similar to the X-Men movie-verse with the obvious exception that Xander 'Nightcrawler' Harris doesn't become a pawn of Stryker. Mostly because this saves me some work and because the Scarlet Witch aka Wanda Maximoff didn't appear in the movies. As for the BtVS universe I think it's easy to tell this will take place in Season 4 just before more details become known about The Initiative.

_Odds and Obstacles_

_**Elm Street Cemetery, Two Months After 'The Worm Turns'**_

"Heads up, 'Crawler! Big **and** Ugly heading your way!" Wanda yelled from a position twenty feet away.

"Thanks, Scarlet!" Xander said as he teleported with a puff of brimstone behind the two demons trying to rush him from behind.

She had to smile at that name he'd given her but she had to admit it did kind of fit, considering her preference for red clothing. It wasn't necessarily the case that she refused to wear anything else but, rather, that she was just so used to wearing the color that she never really took the time to experiment with anything else. It was the color red that she had first been clad in when she had been taught how to harness her powers under Agatha Harkness. For almost as long as she could remember, she had lived at her mentor's cottage outside of Salem and learned to use the strange probability altering power she had. At least that was the theory that Agatha had often stood behind when she'd inquired as to the nature of her abilities but there were a few times when the elderly woman seemed less sure of herself. There had been a few times when she'd tried to question the woman on that but her mentor would either brush her off with more lessons or say she was off to do some errand. It had been less than a year since she'd last seen her wise teacher and she felt slightly guilty about leaving without letting the elder Harkness woman know. It wasn't that she hated the woman or that she was not grateful for all that she had been taught, but she wanted to learn more than was possible at the cottage. So, one night, when Agatha was away in town visiting one of her friends, she packed her things and left for her future.

From there she had put as much distance as she could between herself and the cottage, knowing that it would make tracking her down more difficult. However, upon reaching the state of Texas, she realized that mere distance was not enough if she wanted to truly evade her mentor's Sight. Whether it be on the other side of the country or the other side of the world, it would matter not to a woman of Agatha's skill and power. Thus, she had sought the one place where her location might be obscured if not outright hidden from the spells of mystics.

The Sunnydale Hellmouth.

It was also the last place that Agatha would think she'd go after so many lectures about the danger of a magic user being corrupted if they chose to reside on one. Not only did using magic on the Hellmouth taint the caster with every spell but it also tempted the user to tap into it for more power. Those that succumbed to that temptation often lost their way in the darkness, few ever finding their way out and, in some cases, even **desiring** to leave its embrace. Thus, before she entered the town to attend USCS, she used what she had learned to create three talismans that would help protect her from the taint of the Hellmouth, should she be required to perform sorcery or use her own powers. A belt with several talismans incorporated into along with interwoven warding spells, a set of gloves that no darkness can penetrate and a headdress to protect her mind. After creating them, she entered Sunnydale and enrolled at USCS as a student determined to learn as much as she could both in the classes as well as outside of them. She chose math especially for the purpose of gaining new insight into her powers since understanding mathematics would aid her in manipulating probability.

It had been a few months into her classes that she met the blue skinned, demonic-looking young man currently laying into a group of demons with his sword. She had been so surprised by his sudden appearance in front of her that she had been unable to attain the necessary focus for using her powers. So she'd gone with a more practical approach to the situation and used her math book to knock the yellow eyed being senseless. It was only afterwards that she recognized him as a dark figure she'd seen hanging out in various streets outside the girls' dormitory. After a brief discussion, he told her that he only hung out there to help two of his friends out where he could. From there, almost as if Fate were pushing them together, they continued to bump into one another for the next two weeks. It wasn't until she was attacked by a demon and rescued by Xander that the rest of the tale was revealed to her. She learned that he had once been human and had fought alongside his friends to keep the evil of the Hellmouth at bay. During his trip abroad for the summer, he rescued a woman from being used in a sacrificial ritual to summon a demon named Mystique. While he succeeded in saving the woman, he was touched by Mystique briefly and, over the course of several days, transformed into his present appearance. He returned to Sunnydale in the hopes of being returned to normal by his friends but, due to the ineffectiveness of the spells used, his friends jumped to the conclusion that he was a demon posing as their friend. A fight ensued and so Xander had spent the last couple of months helping his friends out in the hopes that they would see the truth.

Hearing all this, the two of them entered into a friendship of sorts with her looking into his condition to try and find a way to turn him back to normal and him being her information source on the things that went bump in the night in Sunnydale. As for why she was helping him deal with a group of demons at the moment…well, to be perfectly blunt, Xander'd been showing her his teleportation power and she got a little ill. So they stopped in this graveyard so she could recover and wound up stumbling into some kind of ritual. Xan recognized it and immediately jumped in to put a stop to it and she wound up getting involved when one of the demons decided she was a threat. It was mere chance that she'd taken her gloves, belt and headdress along for the ride but, nevertheless, she managed to get all three on in time. That pretty much brought things to where they were right now, half the demons suffering from a case of death by sword slash or found themselves a little tied up with vines. At the moment, she was fine and was just waiting for Xander to finish with his two sparring partners before they left for their off campus apartment.

That was another thing that was unique about their relationship.

When she'd left Salem, she'd withdrawn her entire life savings from the local bank and pawned a few bits of jewelry that Agatha had given her on birthdays. None of the items were magical, of course, and she kept the ones that meant the most to her but it was a fact that money didn't grow on trees and that it was necessary to live. However, living her way across the U S of A wasn't cheap and proved to be quite problematic since it seemed that she had a distinct lack of paperwork to back up her existence. Apparently, whenever her parents dropped her off with Agatha in Salem, they forgot to file the proper paperwork with the U.S government because no one was able to find a trace of one Wanda Maximoff. A visit to a local forger and hacker was able to rectify that particular mistake but it had also cut into her savings big time. As a result, when she'd arrived in Sunnydale and enrolled in USCS she'd been forced to live out of a motel rather than in one of the established dorms in order to save some money. It hadn't been nice, especially with the owner of the motel confusing her chest with her eyes so often, but until she made more money she didn't have a choice.

After she met Xander, though, and got to know him a bit better, they decided that since they both wanted a better place to live and neither of them had the money to pull it off on their own, that they'd pool their money into one pile and live together. They'd managed to get a pretty decent two bedroom apartment although, according to Xander, the only reason the rent was so low was because Sunnydale had a high mortality rate. So for the last five weeks they'd been living together and, as far as roommates went, the son of Jessica and Tony Harris wasn't anything like his parents. His cooking was pretty good and a step up from the take out she'd been living off of since she left Salem and he didn't complain (much) when it came to doing household chores. Add to that the fact that he was willing to go to such lengths to mend the bridges between him and his friends and she'd have to say he was a pretty good guy. Maybe even worth going out on a date with down the road.

Maybe.

"Well, fair damsel, the demons have been smited and the world saved once again from certain destruction." Xander said, doing his best imitation of a swashbuckling hero.

"With some help from your dazzling side-kick, of course." She said, playing along with the routine.

"Of course! The daring Nightcrawler and the scintillating Scarlet Witch always share in the glory of victory!" Xander said before looking at the sword on his hand, "So what do ya think? Keep it or sell it with the rest of this stuff?"

Casting a quick spell of seeing, she looked at the assorted talismans, weapons and armor that lay strewn about. Most of it was tainted with demonic energy and, thus, no reputable fence would buy it unless they cleansed it first. However there were a few trinkets here and there that had a more neutral slant to them so they'd grab those and leave the rest behind.

"Most of it's tainted but there are a few things that Mr. Flanders will buy off us." She replied as she began to pick up those items that were safe, "It won't get us much but it should be enough to pay the bills for another month or so."

"That slim, huh?" Xander asked rhetorically before he tossed his sword over his shoulder and grumbled, "Stinkin' demons and their taint! Can't even keep it off the good stuff."

With that he began to help her gather up the neutral items and, ten minutes later, they were off to the local magic fence Mr. Flanders to haggle the man for as much money as possible.

&

_**The Edge of the Cemetery, Same Time**_

"This is Red One. Targets are now exiting the cemetery." Spoke a man watching the young woman and HST walking towards the west entrance/exit, "Orders?"

"Follow but remain hidden." Came a female voice from the headset the man had spoken into, "Wait until the primary target is alone then you may proceed with the specified capture program. Remember to get it right the first time."

"Roger that. Red One over and out." Spoke the man before the connection between him and his C.O was severed.

Turning to the two men behind him, he quickly gave them the hand signs that explained their next move and, like the trained soldiers they were, they understood perfectly. As one cohesive unit they left their watch point and followed the designated targets from a safe distance. They'd first spotted the primary target a month ago and had, so far, only been ordered to observe it rather than capture it immediately. This had turned out to be a wise course of action because while the other animalistic HSTs were dumb as a ton of rocks, this one actually showed some intelligence from time to time. Coupled with its ability to teleport and none could dispute the fact that they would have to be clever if they wanted to capture it efficiently. Fortunately, after a month of watching its movements and cataloging its habits, the top brass back at HQ had come up with a smart plan for snagging this beastie.

Weapons primed and night vision goggles on, they stealthily kept pace with their prey waiting for the moment when the teenager would leave. HQ wasn't sure what she was since the only non-human thing about her was that she seemed to have abilities similar to magic. However, since magic didn't exist, the current theory was that she had to be a mutant of some kind and, while some members of his team wouldn't have minded a two for one, they'd been told in no uncertain terms that mutants weren't in their jurisdiction. They were Stryker's territory so the most they could do was pass along the teenager's description along with what they knew of her abilities.

Surprisingly enough, the thought that their target might also be a mutant never crossed their mind.

Whether this was by choice or by accident, only time could reveal.

&

_**Outside the Warehouse Location of Mr. Flanders' Fencing Set-up**_

_**One Hour Later, Xander's POV**_

"I still say you could've gotten another fifty bucks out of him on that last piece if you'd just pushed him a little harder, Wanda." Xander said as they exited the warehouse where the local fence of magical items did business.

"Maybe, but seeing as how Mr. Flanders is the only fence in town that we can reliably trust to play straight with us, I think we should just accept what we can get." Wander stated as they began to head for the more populated areas of Sunnydale, "Unless, of course, you want to try fencing this stuff to Willy the Snitch?"

"We'll stick with Flanders!" He said, not wanting to have anything to do with the spineless rat aside from intel on the latest big bads to come to Sunnydale.

"Figured you'd say that. So, you want to grab some take out and head back home?" Wanda asked as they turned onto the less traveled sidewalks in order to minimize the creeping Xander would have to do to stay out of sight.

"You go on ahead and grab me a double cheeseburger." He said before turning into an alleyway, "I'm going to see if I can catch up to Buffy and the others and help them finish their patrol. Shouldn't take me more than an hour or so."

"Heh. You never cease to amaze me, Xander." Wanda said with an amused smile on her face, "It's been, what? Seven months since they chased you out of their lives and six since you started helping them with their patrols in secret? Most guys would've given up by then but you keep trying."

"That's because I'm not just a stranger to them. I'm their friend even if they can't accept that right now." He replied, not letting his own waning faith in his friends show itself in his words, "And that means that I have to keep trying and no matter how long it takes, have faith that they will see the truth someday."

"Yeah, well, they're idiots if they can't see their friend beneath that blue skin of yours." Wanda stated firmly before resuming her walk down the street, "See ya later!"

Waving goodbye for a moment, he then trotted into the alleyway before climbing up the wall like a certain wall crawler he'd seen in the latest Daily Bugle newspaper. It had been an ability he'd literally learned on the fly the day that the final exorcising spell had failed at Giles' place and he'd been forced to dodge one determined Slayer. It had been during on ill timed leap over the blonde Slayer's head that he found himself heading for the wall and in a reflex action put both hands and feet in front of himself. The impact pretty much happened as expected but when the fall to the floor never showed up, he opened his eyes and found himself sticking to the wall. While at first he had written it off as dumb luck but, after a fight with some vampires, he did it again when he reoriented himself after a throw and landed facing the ground on the side of a crypt. From there on he did what he could to incorporate it into his fighting with the demons and his wall crawling ability helped him perch on the top of tombstones and stuff.

Once atop the building, he began to head in the direction of the cemetery he figured the gang would be at. Back during their final year in high school, Wesley had gotten into a super efficiency kick and had actually plotted out their entire patrol schedule for a year. Color coded charts, graphs and other things were employed to explain how his plan would make for a more efficient manner of keeping Sunnydale safe. Surprisingly enough Giles actually backed the plan and, while there had been a few changes made, he was fairly certain the gang still used the schedule. It was probably one of the few things that the ass kissing replacement Watcher had come up with that was actually pretty good. It didn't stop anyone from treating him like a plant or an idiot, but even he agreed that it'd take more than a good patrol schedule to make him respect that kiss up. Still, at least it let him keep track of his friends and catch up with them the few times he overslept a little at his and Wanda's apartment.

He kept his leaps as low and short as possible, since he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention to himself, and the few times when the gap between buildings was too far for him to jump he teleported. He figured initially that it'd take him only a couple of minutes to make it to the cemetery where the gang would be but that was before he heard a woman's scream. Stopping before he reached the edge of the building, he tried to figure out where the outcry had come from but only had a vague direction to go by. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, a second cry tore through the night and this time he knew exactly where it was coming from.

One block away behind Little Mario's restaurant.

Changing course and 'porting to the rooftop of the restaurant it took him only a moment to take in the situation and he was a little relieved at how easy it'd be. From the looks of things the woman was just being attacked by a couple of ordinary human street thugs rather than a vampire or a demon. While human crime in Sunnydale was somewhat rare on account of the fact that most crooks became food for the demons or turned into newbie vamps it did happen from time to time. Most of the crooks were on Shark's payroll though and that was because only with the Shark's protection could they operate in Sunnydale and not get eaten. In any case most of them were common street thugs with very few if any possessing something similar to skill when it came to fighting. He should be able to wrap up these two and be finished in five minutes tops and on his way to hook up with the gang afterwards.

Leaping down from the roof, he landed on the shoulders of the first thug and then did a half donkey kick to nail the guy behind right in the face. Then, while thug number two was momentarily out of the picture, he hopped off thug number one before delivering a strong kick to the back of the guy's knee. In a stroke of good luke, the guy let go of the woman and that made it easy to spin him around before throwing him over his shoulder into thug number two who was getting his head together. He smiled at the sound of two dimwits hitting the ground with twin groans and definitely saw a silver lining to his current condition. Had he been human and tried something like that, he would've been in way over his head and probably gotten pummeled. Now though he'd better go and see if the lady was alright and could make it back home on her own. Hopefully he'd get something a little more heart warming than screams of 'DEMON' or 'MUTIE'. Turning around he barely had time to feel two tiny things hit his chest before many, MANY volts of electricity were sent through his body. He couldn't think, couldn't focus, and so he couldn't teleport away to safety because as he found out the first time he had to be able to think of where he wanted to go.

Falling to the ground, his body randomly spasming with the lingering electrical charge, the last thing he saw was the woman revealing her hair to be a wig and the fact that she was actually a he.

&

_**Afternoon, The Next Day, Wanda's POV**_

_He didn't come home last night._ Wanda thought as she tried to follow the route she believed he would've taken to catch up with his friends, _That is definitely not like him. He usually comes back a little after midnight and then sleeps clean through to noon. This isn't right._

She had been a mess of worry when she'd woken up on the couch this morning to find Xander still not home, despite the fact that it was a serious break from his usual routine. If there was one thing a person could attribute fairly safely to her friend, it was that the blue skinned boy lived by a predictable pattern of living. He woke up, he ate, he killed time doing chores or watching TV until nightfall and then left to hook up with his friends without their knowledge to fight the darkness before returning home to fall asleep. The cycle repeated itself over and over again with the only reach changes happening at random times depending on what life threw at them. A new movie playing at the theatre? He'd wait until later at night to patrol. An Apocalypse in the works? He'd do whatever he could to figure it out and make sure the right info got to his friends. However, to her knowledge, there hadn't been any serious rumblings in the demonic community recently or if there had been, Xander hadn't said anything to her about it. Nor had she herself felt anything amiss magic-wise aside from the usual darkness that was always present on the Hellmouth. It had been this lack of answers that prompted her to start looking for him by attempting to track his movements. She'd tried a tracking spell but it hadn't worked like it was supposed to.

It should have acted like a compass, pointing her in Xander's direction but instead it had just spun wildly only pointing in any direction for a brief moment before resuming its spinning. Therefore she had been left to look around the old fashioned way on foot and, so far, all she had to show for it was a lot of circumstantial evidence that could wind up just being her projecting her desires onto the environment. However, it was when she inspected the rear of a restaurant that Xander liked that she seemed to get her first real clue. Signs of a struggle were present, indicating a fight had happened here recently and while it could've just been a vamp attack there wasn't any sign of blood in the alley. While the bloodsuckers were smart enough to find some place out of the way to feed, they weren't really diligent when it came to cleaning up their own messes. If the mess around her had been from a vampire attack, there'd still be a body here or the area would've been taped off by the local P.D. The cops might've been an incompetent bunch of assholes when it came to stopping the vamps but they were pretty efficient when it came to cleaning up the mess afterwards. It was when she spotted a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from between two garbage bags that her worry evolved into dread.

Pulling on the hair, she was somewhat grateful that there wasn't a body attached to it but, when she discovered that it was a wig, the dread returned. If she was right and her imagination wasn't messing with her head, then it looked to her like someone had pretended to be a mugging victim here. If that had happened last night then she was sure that Xander wouldn't have hesitated to dive right in to save the day like the white knight he swore he wasn't. While she didn't think that some two-bit thugs with smarts enough to pull a deception like this could beat Xander, this was by far the best lead she had. Taking her gloves and headdress out of the backpack she'd taken along with her when she left the apartment, she put them on and prepared to use some magic to find the truth. With her focus attained and her memories consulted, she cast a spell that would use the wig as a focus and allow her to view the most recent events surrounding it. As the spell took effect ghost like images began to appear around her showing the people that had been in this area in the last twenty-four hours. She could see the restaurant staff putting out the trash, she could see a couple of vampires cutting through the alley on their way someplace and at long last she saw what happened to Xander. From start to finish she watched how three men had set a trap that her friend had walked unknowingly into and, judging from what she could see, they were military.

_The question is what do I do now?_ She thought as she cancelled the spell and took a moment to think things through, _While knowing what happened and who did it is progress, it's useless unless I know where to find them._

Over and over again she consulted what Xander had told her about his patrols and about what he'd overheard his friends talking about without their knowledge. While she did recall scattered bits of info about some commando group being in the area, she didn't know any of the details past that. In the end she cursed herself for telling Xander she only wanted to know about potential threats to herself rather to be told the entire big picture from beginning to end. It was just like that time that she botched that spell for Agatha and nearly burned down the house because she wasn't aware of one or two important details. Now, though, it was more than just her life on the line, it was Xander's and that meant that failure was not an option. It took her less than a second to figure out who she had to talk to and so, without delay, she set out for the apartment of one Rupert Giles.

Ten minutes later she was at the door to the apartment of the man whom Xander considered a surrogate father and, for a moment, hesitated. They didn't know her, Xan had never introduced her to them, and she was going to walk in there and demand that they tell her everything they knew about the commandoes in the area? Not exactly the sort of plan that would have gotten a proud smile from her mentor but it was the only option she had left. Knocking gently on the door, she waited for it to open and, after a few moments, it did to reveal a man in his late forties or early fifties with glasses and a definite Brit look about him.

"Yes? May I help you?" Giles asked, confirming his Brit status with his accent.

"Mr. Giles, I need your help. A friend of mine has been kidnapped and I have it on good authority that you know something about those that have taken him." She said, deciding to mix a bit of the truth with a lie.

"I-I am not sure I understand what you are trying to imply. I'm just—" Giles said trying to play convincingly dumb to the stranger.

"I know what you, Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers and others do at night, Mr. Giles." she said, obliterating anything that would keep this meeting from going forward, "I also know that you're aware that several groups of commandoes have been spotted both in Sunnydale as well as the USCS campus. I need to know everything you know about them because I am positive that they are the ones that took my friend."

This naturally left the Brit a little at a loss for words since this perfect stranger, i.e her, had just claimed to know that they fought demons at night. Based on what Xander had told her of the man, the former Watcher would either continue to deny that he knew what she was talking about in the hopes she would go away or he'd invite her in for further discussions. She was somewhat gratified when he stepped aside, a universally known non-verbal invitation, and gestured for her to come inside. Nodding with a smile, she entered to find all the Scoobies, as Xan had called them, in attendance plus two that she didn't recognize. The first was a shy blonde that sat next to Willow and the other was a young blonde guy a couple years older than most of the college freshmen present. However there was something about the way he moved that instantly had her on her guard.

"Well, perhaps you could elaborate a bit on your situation Miss…?" Giles asked as he closed the door behind her.

"My name is Wanda, Wanda Maximoff." She replied before debating on just how to explain things, "My friend…Kurt came to visit me awhile back and once he found out what the nightlife around here was like decided to see what he could do to keep the streets safe. He isn't an amateur, neither of us are, since we were both taught by people knowledgeable about the supernatural so most times he was okay patrolling. Last night, though, he didn't come back."

"If he didn't come back last night then how do you know the commandoes got him?" Buffy asked, being marginally polite to the stranger.

"Because I managed to find the place where they grabbed him by taking the route I figured he must have taken." She replied before removing the wig from her backpack, "I was able to cast a spell that let me see the things this wig has witnessed in the last twenty-four hours. It showed me everything."

"Wait! You can do magic?" Willow asked with interested eyes making it clear she'd be interested in learning the spell.

"Yes. While Kurt was taught more about how to use weapons, my teacher centered her teachings more on the magical side of things." She replied careful about what she said so she wouldn't reveal too much.

"Very well, then. Proceed." Giles said before putting a couple of feet between her and him.

Holding the wig out in front of her she curled her middle and ring finger inward until they touched her palm while leaving her pointing finger, pinky and thumb fully extended. Whispering the words taught to her by Agatha Harkness, she enchanted the wig to replay the events she saw in the alley in full 3D holographic form. As she had already seen the series of events play out she decided to watch the reactions of the various people in the room instead. From Giles she could see academic interest, an analytical mind and a look of recognition that let her know she recognized Xander as soon as the image of her friend appeared. He definitely looked like he was treating the entire scenario that was being played out in front of him objectively. Next came Xander's best friend Willow, who also was quick to identify her friend but seemed torn between what she wanted to believe and what she'd seen when they'd tried to return Harris to normal. Hopefully with a bit of reasoning, the young Wicca could be counted on to be of aid rather than a neutral party. The unknown blonde next to her was a more difficult ready due to her shyness but she had a hunch that whatever direction Willow went in the blonde would follow. However it was Buffy that she was the most concerned about. While there was a hint of concern for the blue skinned fellow being holographically projected by her magic, it looked like the bottle blonde still believed that Xander was just a demon pretending to be her friend. Whether this was because she didn't want to admit she was wrong or really still believed in her original position was debatable.

However it was the look she got from the unknown blonde man that caught her attention the most because the look of recognition he had wasn't focused on Xander but rather the ones capturing her friend. While that could just be recognition of the commandoes that had been seen by the Scooby gang lurking around Sunnydale, she didn't think so. It wasn't until she ended the holographic display and saw the reluctance and anxiety on his face that she knew for certain that this man knew something about the soldiers that had abducted her friend. Narrowing her eyes at him, she pretty much ignored the others as she walked over to him since she didn't want anyone getting in her way if she had to 'persuade' him to tell her where Xander was.

"You look like you have something to tell me. Would you know where those three took, my friend?" she asked politely but with an edge of steel underneath.

"Not really." Replied the man but the look in his eyes plainly told her he was lying.

"Perhaps this can refresh your memory." She said before she used her magic to throw him back against the wall and pin him there.

As predicted, Buffy was the first to take offense with this, confirming what Xander had told her about the Slayer preferring older men for some reason. However the girl didn't seem to realize that frontal tactics wouldn't work against someone with magic on their side. With a flick of her wrist and a flash of her magic, the Slayer was flung against another wall but rather than be held by her magic tendrils of stone reached out from the wall and wrapped themselves around her. While she doubted that the restraints would hold the proverbial Chosen One for very long, it should be enough for her to finish her Q&A session with the blonde man.

"Now let's try that again okay? Where is my friend?" She asked before using her magic to press the young man against the wall harder, "Where did they take him?"

"I'm not telling you anything!" The young man replied, clearly intent on resisting her to the very end.

"Maybe not right now but there's not a man alive who'll let his dignity be torn to shreds for a secret." She said with a smile as she recalled a rather effective way of making men give in to her demands, "Trust me when I say you won't lie to me more than four times."

With that she brought both hands to bear on the man and, once her fingers were in the right position, she cast the spell she'd used on a particularly troublesome merchant years before. The blonde man glowed a soft brown for a moment but then that glow faded until there was nothing left visible to the naked eye.

"Looks like you need to practice your spellwork a bit!" Buffy snarked from the wall before resuming her struggling.

"On the contrary, **bottle blonde,** the spell worked flawlessly." She said with a bit of hostility in her tone, "Watch and see. Now I'll ask you again: where is my friend?"

"I'm not—" began the young man before a distinctly uncomfortable look came over his face.

The reason for this quickly became apparent as the front of the man's mans quickly became soaking wet and, judging from the smell, it wasn't fresh water. Just about everyone curled their nose at this but she managed to keep a smile of confidence on her face.

"As you can see, buddy, every time you refuse to answer my question, your bowels will punish you for your defiance." She said as her smile grew in size, "The greater the defiance, the larger the…discharge. So unless you want to soil Mr. Giles' apartment, I suggest you co-operate. Where is my friend?"

The growl that escaped the young blonde's mouth was response enough to trigger the spell and, seeing as how a distinctly different but no less foul smell manifested, it looked like the man's back door was now showing what it had to offer. This tested even her determination but she was certain that at most the man would defy her one more time before caving in.

"That's two, big guy. Trust me when I say that you don't want to make it all the way to four." She said with a feral smile on her face, "It's never pretty."

Another look of defiance was all she got for her efforts and knowing what was coming next she took a BIG step to the right. A good move on her part since five seconds later it was shown that defying her three times meant projectile vomiting was the penalty that had to be endured. Once she was sure that everything that could be expelled was expelled, she moved back into her previous position in front of the heavily breathing young man.

"Now, I'm sure you've been very brave and that all your commando buddies would be proud of the defiance you've shown but it's time to throw in the towel." She said while covertly casting her eyes about the room, "Just tell me where my friend is and it all ends."

She made a show of turning around but then stopped halfway and turned to look at him.

"Oh, and just so you know, defying me for the four times results in you pissing, crapping and throwing up all at once." She said before she put a look on her face that told everyone she actually wouldn't mind if that happened, "So what's it going to be soldier?"

"We think the Initiative is located beneath Lowell House on the USCS campus!" Willow blurted out, apparently coming to the conclusion that she didn't want to see a man piss, crap and puke at the same time.

"Thanks!" she said before heading to the door of Giles' apartment.

"Hey! What about us!?" Buffy asked with concern since she no doubt didn't want to stay pinned to the wall.

"Oh don't worry. You should be able to break free on your own eventually and, as for the soldier, he'll drop to the floor in about twenty minutes." She replied over her shoulder as she walked past a tense Giles, "As for my little 'truth spell', it'll wear off completely in about an hour once I'm out of range. He might still be occupied with the toilet afterwards, though, but thems the breaks."

Just as she was about to cross the threshold of the apartmentm she felt compelled to say at least one more thing before leaving.

"You knowm I don't know why Xander has such faith in you guys. Every time I ask himm he tells me he's sure you'll take him back if he helps out enough on patrol. It's been months since you chased him out and I can tell just by looking at you that you still think he's a demon pretending to be your friend." She said making it clear she thought Xan was wasting his time, "Did it ever occur to you that **maybe** you guys just weren't strong enough to change him back? Or maybe that Xander was changed so thoroughly thatm as far as your spells were concernedm he was back to **normal**? Looks to me like you jumped the gun and assumed the worst. Some friends you all turned out to be!"

With that she headed for the Lowell frat house on USCS campus to rescue someone who she was beginning to think was entering boyfriend territory.

Huh.

&

_**A Short Distance Away, **_

_**Inside a House Across the Street From Giles' Apartment Complex**_

_**Same Time **_

"Damn! Remind me not to piss that lady off!" Alexander Pierce declared with true honesty in his voice.

"Smart choice. According to the background check, she's been learning mojo for the past ten years from one Agatha Harkness of Salem." Daisy Johnson said as she watched the power mutant sorceress walk out of the range of their hidden cameras, "If she blows her top, and given what she'll see at the Initiative, I think she will, there's not going to be much left when she's done."

"Better let Fury know." Pierce said as he activated the portable communications device that would encrypt the transmission and link them directly to the heli-carrier.

It only took a few seconds for the screen to reveal the man who was probably privy to ninety percent of the world's secrets and had a good idea what the remaining ten percent are like. African American, a patch over his left eye and a goatee made him look like a frowning Samual L. Jackson but no one, of course, said that to his face. Looking at their boss and head of the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D, reflex had them wondering if they'd screwed up some how given how he was looking at them. Then they realized that this was pretty much the look their boss had on all the time when he was on duty. Most figured it was the one eyed man's way of keeping discipline but others believed it was metaphysically impossible for Nick Fury to smile.

Evidence existed to support both theories.

"Report." Was all Nick said without looking at either agent specifically.

"Scarlet Witch, aka Wanda Maximoff, has managed to pry the location of Alexander LaVelle Harris, aka Nightcrawler, out of Agent Finn and is en route to the Initiative." Agent Johnson said before she began to transfer the video, audio and thermal recordings of the confrontation, "She's miffed at how the Slayer and her crew haven't seen the truth about Harris and I doubt her mood's gonna improve once she sees what goes on in the Initiative compound."

"And Walsh's status?" Fury asked starting to look displeased for real.

"Despite orders from the higher ups to cease and desist all work related to room three fourteen, our inside guy has been able to verify that she has disregarded the orders." Pierce replied with a feeling in his gut that things were about to get **interesting**, "While he hasn't been able to gain access to the room again, the flow of materials, both organic and metallic, support the stance that the project is still being worked on."

For a moment Fury said nothing but when his eyes focused on both of the respectively they knew it was go time.

"Get your people geared up and ready to move on the Initiative. Surround but do not move in until I give the word." He said in a tone that did not speak of promising futures for the personnel attached to the Initiative, "We'll be there with reinforcements inside of thirty minutes to shut the place down."

"What should we do about Finn and Harris' old friends?" Johnson asked while her partner Pierce got on a separate line to contact the other agents in Sunnydale.

"Make contact and inform them that the U.S government is shutting down the Initiative due to serious deviations in their mandate. Don't mention S.H.I.E.L.D specifically and make sure your patches aren't on when you meet with them." Fury replied after a moment's contemplation, "Also tell Finn if he co-operates in **every** way possible with taking his former comrades down, he'll get a reduced sentence and might be able to resume his military career once he's out."

"Got it." Pierce said hiding his surprise that Fury was willing to cut any member of the Initiative any slack.

With that the connection was cut and it was time for them to get a move on if they wanted to clamp down on the Initiative before things went too far. Both of them knew that the second Wanda Maximoff learned the true nature of the Initiative, it wouldn't take her long to figure out what Walsh intended to do to Harris. Looking at each other, imagining the kind of chaos that would ensure, neither could entirely suppress the shudder that the chill going down their spines caused.

&

_**The Elevator Leading to the Main Initiative Complex, Forty-Five Minutes Later**_

_I hope this guy has good health insurance._ Wanda thought as she maintained an invisibility spell about her body.

She had figured that the entrance to the commandoes' HQ would have a lot of precautionary security devices in place so just barging in there wouldn't work. Thankfully, though, she had caught two soldier boys heading down in the elevator and had been able to hitch a ride without either of them noticing. She was worried that they'd discover her presence, even with her being unseen by naked eye and by electronic eye, but so far she'd seen no sign of that. No alarm, no sudden stops and no poisonous gas in response to her presence. If they were waiting for her to enter the complex itself before locking down the elevator, then they'd be sorely disappointed with the outcome of the strategy. After all, it would only take a little effort with her power to alter probability to unlock the elevator if she chose to go back up that way. As for their weapons…well…that'd be a bit trickier since she'd have to see them in order to use her power on them but she'd manage.

Upon the opening of the elevator, she was treated to an underground cavern with supports set up all over the ceiling and, down below, personnel moved around about their tasks. Exiting onto the staircase that led to the ground, she gave the area below her a more detailed examination and found that the facility was geared more towards scientific research than eliminating demons. Xander had figured it might be something like that since in the blue elf's mind there were only two reasons for commandoes to be interested in demons: to kill them or to use them. It was the military mindset that dictated that something was either a threat to be eliminated or a potential weapon to be utilized as soon as possible. She agreed with him that some things were better left untampered with and that included demons and forbidden magic. Mostly this was because modern governments were just getting their feet wet when it came to the supernatural and letting amateurs mess with it was just asking for trouble. Better to leave it to those people who actually knew what they were doing than to risk the end of the world to a bunch of newbies who are learning how things work on the fly.

As she reached the ground floor, though, an unpleasant and downright terrifying possibility entered her mind despite her efforts to suppress it.

What if they thought Xander was a demon?

Immediately her mind went into near panic and it was only the thought of her see-me-not spell being affected that forced her to restrain the emotions completely. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she began to listen in on the conversations around her so that she could get some idea of where to start looking for Xander. Looking about at the same time, she was reminded of all those scenes from sci-fi flicks of evil government scientists experimenting on aliens while not caring about whether or not they were sentient. While she didn't think that there were a great many demons out there that she wouldn't mind hanging out with or even allowing to live, she sincerely doubted these people were discriminating. Fortunately for her, and, to a lesser extent, the scientists, none of the beings being dissected or dismembered were Xander because, if that was the case, then everyone here was **dead**.

It took her a moment but eventually she overheard two guards chatting about a new arrival last night and, based on their references to it being blue and having a pointed tail, she figured it was a good place to start. Doing her best to avoid physical interaction with anything, whether it was human or mechanical, she eventually made it to the area of the complex where the prisoners were kept. Some judicious use of her powers to make it past the card readers and she entered a seriously white hallway with cells lining both sides and some kind of glass keeping the demons inside. It wasn't normal glass, it had an odd sheen to it, but she was sure it had to have some kind of weird trick to it otherwise it wouldn't make for an effective jail cell. Walking along she only loosely catalogued the various demons that were contained within but when she reached the last cell with some equipment in it all recorded info went to dust. Strapped to a table with numerous tubes inserted near major arteries and veins was her friend and roommate Xander.

He was definitely heavily drugged and while she saw signs that he was awake, she very much doubted that he was coherent enough to think much less talk. Obviously these people were aware of his ability to teleport and were keeping him hopped up on drugs so her wouldn't be able to bamf his way free. What was worse, though, was that he wasn't in the clothes he'd been in when she'd last seen him but instead one of those drafty hospital gowns. Whether this was because Xan had fought back once and gotten his clothes torn to shreds or something else she didn't know. Whatever the reason, though, it was clear that they were treating him like a member of the more mindless hostile demon species that existed in Sunnydale.

This.

**Pissed**.

Her.

**OFF!**

Throwing subtlety to the wind, she lashed out with her powers of probability and brought into being the low probability that the glass-like substance would spontaneously shatter. Walking inside she was quick to pull out every tube she could find, even if one of them almost made her blush due to the placement, and used her magic to handle any bleeding that occurred. Noticing the alarms for the first time, she knew it'd be at best three minutes before guards showed up to stop her. While normally situations like this would have the rescuer carrying the drugged up victim to safety, sadly she wasn't strong enough to carry Xander. So with a little less preparation than was advisable, she performed a cleansing spell that Agatha had taught her after she'd…experimented with the contents of the liquor cabinet. The results quickly showed as, with a few moans and groans, Xander showed signs both of thought as well as being aware of the world around him.

"Wou'd sumwun pleez turn th' alarm off?" Xander asked with a slur, clearly still halfway under the effects of the drugs.

"Afraid that'll have to wait, Xan. Time for us to make like a banana and split." She said as she helped him off the table he was strapped to.

"I pr'fer a choc'let sundae, m'self." Xan asked as he fortunately proved he was able to at least support **some** of his own weight.

She didn't have time to reply to that as, two seconds later, a group of soldiers turned the corner with some kind of sci-fi rifles aimed in her direction. Looking down for a moment, she realized that in her anger at Xander's condition, her loss of concentration and the rerouting of magic towards other ends her invisibility spell had been broken. With a shrug of indifference she cast forth her power of probability at the approaching soldiers and watched as electricity arced over their bodies from their weird rifles. Apparently they had been some sort of variation on a tazer gun or something. As the three soldiers dropped to the ground, she quickly helped Xander past them and then headed for the door that she'd used to get inside. Normally she'd have gone looking for a way out of the cell block that didn't have such a high probability of encountering more soldiers but she figured since they knew she was here, there was no point in avoiding them. Besides, there was no telling how complicated the network of hallways were down here and she didn't want to get lost trying to get back to the only way out that she knew of.

Bit by bit they made their way down the hallway, she'd used to reach the cells and, just like she'd expected, they met with wave after wave of soldiers trying to stop them. Sadly for them the hallways made for more tactical areas and with no room for them to maneuver she was easily able to neutralize the weapons used against her. Grenades were stopped before they got close, guns were either jammed or broken and any soldier that tried to attack physically was introduced to the nearest wall. Needless to say it was a bit of a pain in the ass having to help Xander step over the unconscious bodies every so often but she put up with it.

It was when she entered the main area of the compound nearest the elevator she'd used that things got quite a bit more difficult. Not only did really heavy sounding doors come down behind them, but soldiers by the dozen poured out of every other door in the area with weapons trained on both her as well as Xander. By the time they'd finished forming a circle around her and her friend, there was easily a small army present, making her think that just about every soldier assigned here was present. Looking around, she tried to determine if she even stood a fighting chance of getting the two of them out of there in one piece. While it was true that she knew a few spells that didn't require a specifically designated target or eye contact, most of the ones in her repertoire did require she be able to see what she was using her powers on. With her back to the doorway that led to the cells, it meant that the soldiers were in front of her as well as on either side. It wasn't a hopeless situation per se but definitely one that would involve emptying the First Aid kit back at the apartment.

"An impressive attempt, Ms. Maximoff, but you couldn't have seriously thought you could escape from here with it, did you?" asked an old blonde woman in a lab coat, "Even if you had managed to render the subject invisible like you were, we still would have noticed the empty cell."

"Maybe." She replied while doing her best to keep her uncertainty hidden, "So, how exactly to you plan to resolve this situation? Keep in mind that I plan on walking out of here with my friend no matter what you do. I'm just curious."

"As you've probably guessed, the elevator has been locked down and all power cut from it. The blast door that came down behind you is strong enough to keep the hostile sub-terrestrials contained even if they escaped their cells." The woman replied, sounding like she was humoring an annoying lackey, "Also while you may have been able to handle up to five soldiers at a time, I somehow doubt you'll be able to defeat over thirty all at the same time."

"Let's find out!" She said after lowering Xander to the ground behind her and preparing to unleash every ounce of power at these jackasses.

Before any of them could do anything, six violent explosions tore through the ceiling of the complex, raining stone and dirt on everything below. Neither she nor the personnel of the Initiative were given a lot of time to think things through though as, seconds later, airborne armored suits came through the holes. She'd never seen anything like them before but, judging from the sophistication and armaments, whatever the group belonged to was well financed.

"Everyone freeze! Under the joint authority of the United States government and the United Nations, all of you are under arrest!" Came the digitized voice of one of the armored figures.

"What!? Who are you?!" The lab coat wearing woman asked, clearly flustered by this turn of events, "Who the hell is your commanding officer?"

Her question was quickly answered when the door to the elevator was blown clean off its hinges. Seconds later, as the smoke cleared, a group walked out onto the platform made up of three people she didn't know and the Scoobies. The one that garnered the most attention though was the bald African American with the goatee and eyepatch that pretty much screamed 'you do NOT want to mess with me'. The three unknowns, including the one with the eyepatch, were all wearing dark blue combat suits and were definitely armed for a serious battle.

"That would be me, Dr. Walsh. Colonel Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D" Fury said making his displeasure clearly known to the woman, "I hope you like prison food, doctor, because that's all you'll be allowed to eat for the next thirty to forty years."

&

_**A Parking Lot on the Far Side of the University Campus, Thirty Minutes Later**_

"My mouth feels like something died in it!" Xander groaned as the lingering effects of the sedatives hindered his body despite the injections of the S.H.I.E.L.D medic.

"That's just the injections working their way through your system," stated the female medic as she packed away the tools of her trade. "They were pumping you full of some pretty potent sedatives and muscle relaxants so it'll probably be a couple of days before they're completely out of your system. Just treat this like cold and you'll be fine."

"I will, thanks." He said as the woman walked off to join up with the rest of her comrades.

Looking around, he couldn't believe what almost happened.

While he hadn't been entirely coherent at the time, he knew that the people that had been holding him had been the same sort of commandoes that had been spotted lurking around Sunnydale in the last few months. He was also fairly certain that they'd been experimenting on demons, given the number of lab coat wearing poindexters that had been milling about the place. Looking up, he saw Wanda, Buffy and the others approaching with a trio of people he wasn't familiar with. He wasn't sure how he felt about seeing the gang in person again because, while he still wanted to rejoin them as a Scooby, there lingered some bitterness within them about how they'd been unable to see the truth. He knew that from their perspective it had been logical to assume that he'd been a demon posing as their friend after the exorcism spells failed, but it still hurt. Nevertheless, they seemed ready to talk to him now without the overabundance of weapons they'd used last time so he would do his best to keep things friendly.

"Feeling any better, Xander?" Wanda asked, quickly sitting down on the bench next to him.

"Well, I'll probably be treating mouthwash like the best thing since Twinkies for a while but give me a few days and I'll be fine." He replied with a smile to reassure his roommate that he was going to be fine.

"X-Xander?" Willow asked clearly no sure if he wanted to talk to her or not.

"Hey Wills, Buffy Giles and…" he said before drawing a complete blank on who the dirty blonde haired girl standing by Willow was.

"H-hi! M-my name is Tara." Tara stated clearly very shy and suffering from significant self esteem issues.

"Nice to meet you." He said extending one of his two fingered hands to her.

The young lady was hesitant at first but then gave him a real smile before accepting his hand and shaking it.

"Look, Xander, we're…we're sorry about how we acted when you came back." Buffy said sounding like the words being spoken were hard for her to say, "We…we shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like we did. I…I'm sorry."

_While I'd like a more heart felt apology from Buff, I guess this is probably the best I can hope for as far as her saying she was wrong._ He thought before saying, "No problem, Buffy. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Indeed and you can rest assured that Dr. Walsh and her cronies will be paying for their mistakes for a **long** time," stated the African American with the eyepatch.

"And you are?" He asked despite the vague recollection that the man had introduced himself before.

"Nick Fury. I'm the commander of the force that shut down the Initiative and got you out of the tight spot you were in." Nick said extending his hand for a shake.

"Thanks for that. The room service was terrible, their manners were pathetic and entertainment was definitely below average." He said before recalling something during the early hours of his imprisonment, "Although it was kinda funny to see that Fyarl demon stagger around its cell drugged up to the gills."

While it was clear that the man wasn't quite sure how to take those words, the looks of amusement on the faces of the Scoobies quickly clued him in.

"I'm sure it was. However we're going to be closing down this show permanently." Fury stated before his voice took on another tone, "That still leaves us without a credible means of dealing with demonic and supernatural threats. It's clear to me that feeling ones way through isn't going to work if the innocent people are going to be protected. We need experienced people who already know what needs to be done and how to do it."

_It's almost as if he's proposing something._ He thought before something snapped into place in his head.

"Are offering us a job?" He asked, deciding that the best way to handle his suspicion was just to pop the question.

"While I had a few others in mind, you'd all be welcome additions to the team given your experience fighting on a Hellmouth." Fury replied with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, indicating he'd hoped the question would be asked.

It was definitely an odd proposition and, while he didn't know much about this Fury guy, the man at least had enough sense to know when not to leave things to the amateurs.

"While it would be...interesting, Mr. Fury, I am afraid that Buffy will have to remain in the vicinity of Sunnydale to keep watch over the Hellmouth." Giles said, attempting to phrase his response just right.

"Besides I like being my own boss too much to take orders from anyone." Buffy said in agreement, completely ignoring the looks of disappointed acceptance on everyone else's face.

"I've already paid for classes and Buffy might need my help." Willow said with some reluctance.

Tara didn't need to say anything to indicate where she'd be staying.

"Well, then, I guess it's just you and me, Xander." Wanda said with a smile a she threw an arm over his shoulder.

While he did, for a moment, think about saying no he realized that even if the Scoobies could now see the true him beneath the blue skin it didn't change two things. The first was the fact that even if he could hang with the gang again his appearance would make it difficult if not impossible to be with them outside of work. Granted, he'd been able to cope half decently in the past couple of months but it pretty much required that he live like recluse or restrict his leisure time to places demons also frequented like Willy's. Still, it was beginning to get to him and only Wanda's company had managed to keep him in good cheer. The second thing, though, was that if Fury was going to put together a demon/paranormal division, the Sam L. Jackson wannabe was probably going to gear them up with stuff similar to the robo-suits. While some might think that such advanced technology would make demons quake in their scales he knew it just meant a bigger screw up if they didn't have someone with some actual know how on the team. So, all in all, there was only one thing he could say with regards to the Scarlet Witch's statement.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Wanda." He said with his trademark lopsided smile.

&

_**One Week Later, Room #13 of the Motel Belonging to Mr. E. Nigma, Evening**_

_I hope I'm doing the right thing._ Willow thought as she went through her preparations one more time.

It had been a week since Xander and his **friend** Wanda left to work for that Nick Fury Colonel running the government's anti-demon division. During that time she had the chance to review what Wanda said after prying the info from Riley and, while it made her feel pretty bad, the lady had a point. They had been so confident when they'd tried to restore Xander, so sure that they had all they needed to help him, that they never even considered failure as a possibility. Now that she looked at the situation objectively, the points Wanda raised were valid. Considering that the cultists were using sacrificial magic to try and bring the demon Mystique into this world the monster had to be pretty powerful. When you added to that the criteria for most exorcism spells was to remove the foreign elements in a person's body, the spells wouldn't work if they considered the alterations to Xander's body to be 'natural' for him. Thus, armed with this information, she'd looked through Giles' books every night this week looking for the right potion or spell to turn Xander back. However, no matter how hard she looked, none of the spells looked reliable enough even though they didn't have the foreign elements part in them.

That left her with only one choice and she had to say she was feeling kinda wiggy about it. Checking the arcane circles that were drawn on the floor of the room, she made sure that every symbol was correctly drawn as well as necessary for her objective. She also checked to make sure the various charms and protective amulets she wore were activated, since they'd be her second line of defense. Her plan was to execute a modified version of the ceremony those cultists used to bring the demon Mystique into this world. She would be using herself as the vessel for the power as well as the knowledge with the intent that, once she gained enough of both to help Xander, she would terminate the spell. The protective circles, charms and amulets were all made with the intent of denying Mystique from achieving anything more than a thirty percent hold on her body. In fact, if her calculations were accurate, the demon would have to work a great deal to even get that far. While the demon might be powerful, there'd be a limit to how much power it would be able to channel through the portal and into her thanks to her circles. She had left nothing to chance and had even placed the means of terminating the spell into the palm of her hand.

Literally.

It was a simple glass sphere but, as it was the focus for the spell, all she'd need to do if things got out of hand was shatter it. It would terminate the connection to the dimension Mystique resided in and any excess energy that remained would bleed off into the atmosphere. She, of course, would retain the power and the knowledge for a week or so before it entirely disappeared but that would be long enough for her to find Xander and change him back. She knew that even if she changed him back, he'd probably want to continue working for Colonel Fury but at least if he was human, he'd have less of a reason to stay away from the Scooby gang. He might not have said it in so many words but she knew her friend well enough to know that deep down Xander was still angry with them over chasing him away when he first got back to Sunnydale. It had been the theme of many a nightmare that, rather than chasing away a demon trying to pose as her lifelong friend, she had actually ran off the genuine article. Now was the time for her to atone for that mistake!

Standing between two lit candles she began to chant the words that would bring into being the portal to the realm of Mystique. It was difficult and required quite a bit of effort but she was gratified to see a black whirling portal form at the center of her three arcane circles. Quickly, as she knew that she had not a moment to waste, she placed her hands on the outer most circle, causing a cascade effect that activated all three. It was a good thing too since a pair of malevolent golden eyes immediately appeared from within the portal. No words were spoken but the eyes told the redheaded wicca all she needed to know. The demon was curious about what she was doing. The demon made promises of great power and influence if she would allow it to fully enter the realm of Earth. The demon promised that all her deepest desires would be fulfilled if she placed her trust in it.

It even promised to turn Xander back to normal.

However Willow's long years of fighting on the Hellmouth had served her well because she resisted the words and ideas being placed in her mind. Chanting once more, she cast the spell that would draw Mystique's power and knowledge through the portal and into her own body. Putting all her heart and soul into the effort she could feel the target of her work resisting her efforts but that only made her try that much harder. It became so difficult for her that her awareness of what was going on aside from her mission was lessened greatly. She was not aware of the fact that her skin was growing more and more blue by the second or that her hair was becoming an unnatural shade of red. All that mattered to her was completing the spell and then terminating the connection before the demon found a way past her defenses. Pain. Pain from casting the spell got so bad she nearly lost her focus but there was a strength in her that was more powerful than anything anyone in Sunnydale had seen before.

However it was as the spell reached its maximum output that something unexpected happened.

While it only started out as a smell she soon discovered that the symbols that empowered her mystic circles were beginning to burn away. It wasn't just the inner circle or the second one out from the center, but all three at the same time! Looking back at the golden eyes that pierced the darkness of the portal, she could feel the demon's rising glee as the only things keeping it from coming completely through were disappearing. Fearing what might happen if she waited any longer, Willow brought the glass sphere in front of her and prepared to crush it. However as she sent the command from her brain to the hand that held the sphere, she was shocked to find her hand not responding. Again she commanded it to crush the sphere before the demon could finish wiping out the arcane sphere's hindering it. It was only then that she realized that somehow the demon had infiltrated her body somewhat. Not enough to seize complete control but enough to keep her from foiling its plan to enter this world and take possession of her body. Frantically she doubled, tripled and quadrupled her efforts to crush the glass sphere in her hand but nothing happened. Looking up and seeing the last few symbols that made the final circle work begin to fade away, she decided that the time for finesse was over and so with a grunt of defiance she slammed the glass sphere into the floor. In perfect synch the final symbol of the outer circle vanished, the demon Mystique leapt from the portal to claim it's prize and the sphere shattered on the floor beneath her hand. All at once a blinding light erupted from the point of contact and a terrible demonic scream cut through the air for all within a five block radius to hear.

When the light within the room faded all trace of the magic circles, the portal and the demon were gone. Only Willow remained kneeling where she had been from the beginning, a dazed and fatigued look on her face. With what meager strength she had left, she crawled over to the bed in the motel room and climbed into it because she was bone dead tired with sleep the only thing on her mind. Perhaps it was because of this that she failed to notice that her eyes were now completely golden and gave off a light unnatural glow. If she had noticed this she would have been worried since nothing in her research or preparations had mentioned anything like that as one of the possible after effects. It would also explain why, in the darkest recesses of her mind, a sinister voice cursed her name and vowed to one day claim all that Willow possessed for its own.

However that is a tale for another time.


	32. A Snowflake in the Wind

"A Snowflake in the Wind" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"A Snowflake in the Wind" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown herein. They are the rightful property of their individual creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever. I write for my own personal enjoyment and whatever enjoyment the readers experience reading my work.

Note: This drabble/short will occur after Season 3 of BtVS and continue partially into Season 4 of the series. As for where it would reside in the Marvel multi-verse I'd put it a little while before the second X-Men Movie. I know that the actor that was chosen to play Colossus in the movie doesn't really resemble Xander at all but I'm sure you all have good enough imaginations to remove that actor and input Xander.

Also I have decided to take Jack O'Toole's references to who hired him and make his employer someone else rather than let it be Mayor Wilkins. See if you can guess who.

_A Snowflake in the Wind_

_**Sunnydale, California**_

_**Three Days Following Graduation Day at Sunnydale High School**_

_**Outside the Harris Home**_

_The time has finally come for me to dump this place and move on. _Xander thought as he continued to pack the essentials into the back of the car that he'd gotten from his Uncle Rory, _With me and Faith both pitching in what we can, we'll have out own apartment when he get back to Sunnydale._

For him, this road trip he was taking with Faith was the sweetest sundae ever and the fact that they'd be living together when they got back was the cherry on top. As for never having to listen to his parents again or do all the chores they can't do because they're too drunk to stand up? That was the hot fudge dripping off of the ice cream portion of the sundae. For the longest time he thought he'd never escape his parents, that somehow, even when he turned eighteen, they'd find a way to keep their claws in him, but as of today he was officially free. By turning eighteen he was no longer legally obligated to live with his parents or any other adults older than himself. From here on out it was up to him alone to come up with the means of supporting himself and while it wouldn't be easy the load would definitely be lighter with Faith rooming with him.

Of course it didn't hurt that they'd officially been dating since about a week after his powers kicked in. Oh, she didn't say it straight out but, to the Scoobies, she couldn't have been more obvious with how she felt towards him if she tried. It was one of the reasons they were going on this road trip together: to get to know one another and nurture their relationship into something approaching potentially marital. Oh, it wouldn't be so fast paced that they'd be setting a date for the wedding when they got back, but it'd definitely be the perfect set up for moving in together. Perhaps if things went as well as he'd hoped, they would he'd work up the courage to try and get an engagement ring of some kind or just **something** to show her how serious he was about the two of them. He wasn't going to let something this good get away from him if he could help it!

Slamming down the lid of the trunk, he prepared to head over to the motel that Faith had been staying at since she staked Kakistos. He'd been seriously miffed at the quality of the motel, it looked like a place where drug addicts lived, but the dark Slayer insisted she didn't want charity from anyone. No matter how many times or how many different ways the Scoobies tried to persuade Faith to move in with either Giles or Buffy, the woman just wouldn't give in. It was Slayer pride, he guessed. They were stubborn beyond all belief when they thought they were right and only gave it if they had no other choice but to do so. Fortunately, though, the combination of their growing relationship and the fact that she'd be chipping in for the cost of the apartment was enough to get her to agree to leave the motel room. Still, he'd do anything he could to keep her from going back on that course of action, even if it meant calling in every favor he was owed and making an under the table deal. Despite what Buffy and the others thought, there were a few people in Sunnydale that actually knew what really went on at night and appreciated what they did. While not all of them owned a business or anything, he was certain there were at least one or two he could persuade to hire Faith on. He'd, of course, stress to them not to let on that he'd had anything to do with her getting the job and if she did find out…well…that was another reason to be glad he could turn into Metal Man.

_It's a corny name but I just can't think of another one that sounds better._ He thought as he recalled the days of daydreaming when he'd tried to think up a cool codename for himself.

"So you're finally haulin' your good for nothin' ass outta here, huh?" came the slurred words belonging to one Anthony Harris, "GOOD! I'm sick of always havin' to waste my hard earned money supporting a go-nowhere-be-nobody kid like you!"

"Hard earned money, eh? Somehow I doubt sitting on your ass and being asleep half the time at work counts as hard work, Tony." He said, not wanting to give the asshole the satisfaction of seeing how pissed his was right then, "The only reason you probably still have a job is because Mr. Danza down at the liquor store is bribing your boss to keep you on or something. Pity and charity are about the only reasons why anyone would put up with a drunken asshole like you."

"WHY YOU NO GOOD DAMN RUSSKIE!!" Tony Harris exclaimed with his face turning an interesting shade of purple in the process, "I SHOULDA NEVER MADE THAT DAMN PROMISE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!"

"What?" he asked wondering if his father had finally knocked back one too many beers.

"You heard me! Since you're no longer my problem, I don't have to keep my mouth shut anymore!" Tony said sounding like he was going to enjoy what came next, "Fifteen years ago I was an agent with the C.I.A doing field work over in Russia and wound up tripping over your **real** bastard of a father! The commie ruined the entire operation and had the nerve to make me promise to take care of his kids for him in America! The fool that I was, I did what he wanted! I was on the **fast track** and then, cause of that, I got **dismissed** from the Agency! But I told myself it'd be worth it! What a **LOAD of CRAP** that was!!"

"Kids?" Was the only thing he could get his lips to say given the shock screaming throughout his system.

"I shoulda put a slug right between that deadbeat farmer's eyes the second I laid eyes on him! Him and that Bitch of a wife of his!" Tony continued to rant before turning around to head back into the house, "Instead I had to be the 'nice guy'! I had to do 'the right thing'! SonuvaBITCH!"

With that last word Tony Harris entered the house and slammed the door behind him with enough force to rattle the hinges quite a bit. For one Xander Harris, though, he was pretty much staring off into space trying to cope with what he'd been told as well as whether or not to believe a word of it. It seemed so far fetched especially when he tried to picture **THE** Tony Harris as a C.I.A spook. However, he supposed if you took eighteen years off of him, got rid of the booze and actually whipped him into shape, he **could** fit the bill. Add to that the fact that the bastard tended to be **bluntly** honest whenever he was throwing a fit like this and the odds of his words being true went up. However, there were just so many things he wanted to know and ask about that he knew he wouldn't be able to as long as Tony was the source of information.

It was then that the gods took mercy on him as the door opened up to reveal his mother walking out in her bathrobe with a manila envelope in her hands. Her hair was a mess and he could tell she was coping with a hangover from the way she was squinting thanks to the sunlight. While not as bad as Tony was when it came to the abuse, she completely outdid herself in the 'stand-by-and-do-nothing' qualification for worst parent of the year award. All it would have taken was a single call to the authorities and charging her asshole of a husband with assault and battery, among other things, to make their lives better. Instead she just drowned herself in booze and acted as though it didn't concern her one bit. Still, the fact that she didn't hit him or rant at him was enough for him to actually wait around for her to say whatever it was she wanted to say rather than just drive off.

"Damn sun! Why does it have to be so bright!?" Jessica Harris grumbled before turning to him, "I knew Tony'd spill the beans today. The man might be an ass but he's an ass that'll never miss a chance to beat someone down."

"You mean he was actually telling the **truth**!?" he asked with some surprise at his mother's words, "He was a spook?"

"A long time ago. He didn't tell me a whole lot about it, of course, but I heard enough to be able to tell him apart from the guys that just put on an act." Jessica replied, feeling a little emboldened by all the airing of hidden secrets, "After they gave him the boot, he pretty much turned to crap inside of five years. I asked him once why he kept the promise he made to Nikolai Rasputin if it cost him so much and all he'd say was that he'd be dead meat if he didn't. When I asked him harder later his only reply was to hit me back even harder."

"You said kids and Tony said kids but who're you talking about?" he asked, deciding that that was the most important question he could.

"You have a little sister. Only a year younger but, when Tony brought her back, he was only able to get the paperwork for you being adopted before his 'friends' at the C.I.A put their foot down." Jessica said, clearly not liking how her husband's former employers had started messing with the Harris family, "While she made it to the United States, she wound up getting shipped off to some kind of orphanage instead of coming here with you. Here's the official paperwork involving both you and her. It isn't much but it's a place to start."

With a casual move, she passed him the large manila envelope before turning around and heading back towards the front door of the house. Looking down at the brown paper envelope in his hands, he wanted to tear it open and find out who he really was, where he was from and who this sister of his had been. However there was one question he wanted to ask his mother before then.

"Why are you doing this, Mom?"

"Truthfully, I'm not all that sure myself." Jessica Harris replied as she paused near the door, "Maybe just because, for once in my life, I actually want to do something a mother would do. Who knows?"

&

_**Thirty Miles Outside of Sunnydale, One Hour Later, Faith's P.O.V**_

"So Xan? Where do you wanna go first?" Faith asked as she watched the scenery fly by and the wind blow through her hair, "Me? I'm thinkin' we take a spin through L.A and San Fran first, then head straight for Vegas. What do you think?"

There was no answer coming from her sorta boyfriend as he continued to drive down the road on automatic pilot. He had pretty much been like this ever since he'd picked her up outside her motel room and hadn't said more than a handful of words since. At first she'd thought it had just been his farewell bash that his deadbeat parents had given him but it never used to take him this long to shrug off one of their rants. It was one of the things that she liked about him: he never let the shit at him get to him and was way better than his parents could ever hope to be. He gave her hope that somehow down the line she might be able to escape the chains of her parents too and become something other than the adrenaline junkie her Dad had been or the crack whore her mother had been. However he had been like this for awhile now and unless she wanted it to be like this for the rest of the day he had to get him out of this funk sooner rather than later.

"I mean it'll be great to visit all those strip clubs they got there and see guys prancing around in those **tiny** thong speedos of theirs." She said, hoping that her lack of tact would somehow snap him out of it, "All those muscles and their dongs tenting the spandex! Mmmmmm!"

Nothing.

That was definitely abnormal since usually anything that reminded Xan of his botched interrogation of Larry the Linebacker instantly put him on the defensive. He'd go on and on about how **nothing** had happened and then come up with some way to prove how manly he was. While he never did go into detail about what happened during the interrogation, she pretty much figured it out and knew that her man was just trying to make sure no one thought he was gay like Larry. As far as she was considered, though, Xander didn't have a thing to worry about in terms of proving how much of a man he was. The sex they had almost twice a day, **every day**, was enough to convince her about which team he batted for. Not that she was a slut or a nympho or anything. It was more a combination of her Slayer hormones after a solid night of patrolling along with a need to have some fun after a boring day. The fact that he had a **serious** woman pleaser under those pants of his didn't hurt nor that he was a natural in the sack.

_It looks like I'll have to break out the heavy artillery to snap him out of it._ She thought as her boytoy kept ignoring her.

"Hey Xander! Take a look at **this!**" she said before she yanked the front of her tank top up to reveal her braless bouncy beauties.

It happened like clockwork. The second that Xander looked in her direction to see what she was talking about, his eyes locked onto her chest and grew to the size of dinner plates. As it was, he was so shocked he almost veered into the other lane on the highway and right into the path of an oncoming Greyhound bus. Fortunately reflexes honed fighting vampires plus the sweet ride they were in allowed the brown-eyed boy to yank them back into the proper lane. Pulling her shirt back down, she had to smirk a bit at the look on his face as he tried to recover both from her flashing him as well as the close encounter with the bus. Even though her man had gotten a handle on being able to turn into a towering titan of steel, he still occasionally acted like he was just your average guy. Another thing she liked about him: he didn't let his powers go to his head like **some** people did.

"Faith!! What the **hell** did you do that for!?" he exclaimed while making sure to keep the car in the right lane, "You coulda gotten us **killed!**"

"Well I had to do something to snap you back to reality." She said, not taking his tone personally, "You were spaced out worse than my mom on an acid trip. What's up?"

It took him a second but the he said "I just found out this morning that I'm adopted, Faith. Turns out I'm Russian. Who'd-a-thunk it?"

"Really? A shocker to be sure but somethin' tells me there's somethin' more." She said, knowing that it'd take something more than finding out he was Russian to spook Xan like this.

"If my parents were telling the truth, then I have a sister out there somewhere." Xander replied before reaching over and opening up the glove compartment, "According to these papers, my birth name is Piotr Rasputin and my sister's name is Illyana.

"Whoa! You have a sister?" she asked rhetorically, thinking about the bombshell that had just been dropped, "You plan on looking her up?"

"Don't see how I can." Xander replied with disappointment clearly in his voice, "We were split up fifteen years ago and all I have to go on is the orphanage listed on these documents. Callypso Children's Center."

"Hey, we got the time, ya know." She said not liking the down sound of her boytoy's voice, "We aren't due to head back to Sunny-D until the end of September and we wanted to see the country anyways, right? So let's do it! Let's find the Xan-man's little Sis!"

"You sure? I mean it wouldn't exactly be a vacation with all the digging we'd have to do." Xander said sounding like he didn't want to ruin her summer vacation.

"So it'll be a workin' vacation. I'm five by five with that if finding little Illyana is what you want." She said honestly since anything was better than seeing her man down in the dumps.

"Then it looks like we got our first destination locked in." Xander said with the smile that still made her insides do flip-flops, "Thanks Faith!"

&

_**The Next Day, Noon, Los Angeles, Xander's P.O.V**_

"Illyana? Oh yes! I remember her quite well." Ms. Moore said as she led him and Faith down the hallway of the Center, "Such a lovely child with a real talent for storytelling. She'd spend hours telling tales to the younger children to keep their spirits up when times were tough."

"Sounds like she was pretty helpful around here." Xander said, smiling a bit at this first portion of info about his sister.

"Oh, she helped us out for certain, but she had her mischievous side as well." Ms. Moore said with a rueful smile on her face, "Particularly when people came to adopt her and she didn't like them. Oh, she'd be a right terror towards them and wouldn't calm down until she was sure they were gone. I asked her about it once and she said that she refused to go with anyone unless she liked them."

He couldn't help but chuckle at the news that his sister was such a handful when she wanted to be. Even though he was hearing about her second hand, Illyana definitely sounded like someone he wouldn't mind having as a sister. His mind spun at the idea of having a sibling but he found that in the end he didn't mind it as much as he suspected others might. Still, he would reserve final judgment on it all until he actually met her face-to-face, since it's entirely possible that Ms. Moore's recollections were biased.

"Eventually it did happen, though. Around three years ago a couple from the east coast were passing through, visiting a specialized medical facility. It seemed due to a medical problem they were unable to have a child and were exploring ways of getting around the problem." Ms. Moore explained as her office came into sight, "Apparently adoption was to be their last option. The Almighty himself must have lent a hand because, the moment they laid eyes on Illyana, there was no doubt in their minds that she was the one. The proper paperwork was all signed within a week and they left ten days later after Illyana had said all of her goodbyes."

_East coast?! Looks like Faith and I have a long trip ahead of us._ He thought as he tried to do some quick calculations to ration out their money supply for a trip like that, _It'll be tight and we might need to gamble a bit with some random jobs but we can make it._

"So, can you tell us where we can find her?" Faith asked as they entered the office that wasn't much bigger than a high school bathroom minus the toilets and stuff.

"Well, normally we keep all our adoptions confidential for legal reasons and such. However, after examining the paperwork you gave me and hearing your story, I think I can make an exception just this once. Just don't tell anyone, 'kay?" Ms. Moore replied before giving them a sly wink to let them know she was amused by it all.

"Don't worry. We're used to keeping secrets." He replied with a smirk at how much better people in officialdom were outside of Sunnydale.

It took a few minutes for Ms. Moore to pull up the correct information on her computer but he could tell by the smile that appeared on her face when she'd found it.

"Here we are! She was adopted by Winston and Hazel Frost three years ago. Her last known address was Boston, Massachusetts at the Frost Estate outside of town." Ms. Moore said as she scrolled through the information, "From what this file says, it looks like they're quite upper class based on the location of the mansion. Aside from the one year later call we usually do to check up on new adoptees, we haven't heard anything else from Illyana."

"Is that unusual?" he asked, wondering if something might be amiss.

"Not really. When I talked to her in that call, she seemed to be quite happy with the Frost family and was looking forward to her first year attending a private school for girls." Ms. Moore replied reassuringly before closing the file she had on Illyana.

_Not necessarily something completely trustworthy, but I suppose Ms. Moore knows Illyana better than me. If she says my sister is happy then I have to believe her._ He thought as he ignored the Sunnydale Paranoia in his mind.

"Good. Thanks for giving us Illyana's location." He said genuinely happy that he had a place to look for his sister so quickly.

"Ahhh, what can I say, I'm a sucker for family reunions." Ms. Moore said with a friendly smile on her face, "Now you'd better get going. Remember though: this never happened and I never told you anything."

"I don't know what you're talking about Ms. Moore. You just gave us the usual run around before politely asking us to leave when we wouldn't accept no as an answer." He said with his trademark lopsided smile.

&

_**Boston, Massachusets**_

_**The Upper Class Outskirts of the City**_

_**Frost Mansion, Early Morning, Two and a Half Weeks Later**_

_**Xander's P.O.V**_

_Why does the universe __**hate**__ me?!_ He thought as he and Faith drove up to the location of the Frost mansion only to find the place swarming with press and cops.

It had been a long trip and they had only stopped along the way to rest, refuel and occasionally stretch their legs when the car ride got to be too much for them. While not exactly the cannonball trip coast to coast, they'd made good time and had arrived the day before. He had wanted to pay a visit to the Frost mansion immediately but Faith had persuaded him to wait a day since it wouldn't be the best of first impressions if he showed up tired and dirty. It was only when she promised some **fun** in the hotel shower that he finally gave in. After all, it was damn near impossible for him to refuse her when she started dangling stuff like that in front of his face. Now, though, he almost wished that he'd turned her down because from the looks of things something big had happened at the Frost mansion. Pulling over and parking on the side of the road, he decided that they'd approach on foot and try to find out what was going on from the reporters and cops. Most of the police were out of reach, though, and that left only the reporters who were all trying to get as close to Frost property without actually stepping over it. However, there was one lady news anchor in the back of the pack with her crew looking like she was debating climbing onto the backs of her fellow news hounds, judging by how she was rocking on the balls of her feet.

_As good a choice as any. _He thought before he said, "Hey, do you know what's going on here?"

The woman turned around and he found the woman to be in her late twenties or early thirties with short black hair and a tan tinge to her skin. In short, she had the same sort of appeal that Ms. Calender had but for him it was nothing more than an appreciation for female beauty. He had Faith as a girlfriend and had no intention of proving her original opinion of men right by leering at other women while dating her.

"Of course. Where've you two been for the past forty-eight hours?" She asked as though he and Faith had been living in a cave up until now, "The adopted daughter of Winston Frost has been kidnapped and from what I've overheard they took her from her own room and left it pretty messed up."

Despite the fact that he could turn himself into a towering titan of steel with the strength to throw cars around like a medicine ball, you could have knocked him over with a feather right then.

"What do you mean messed up?" Faith asked obviously stepping in since he had been rendered speechless at the moment.

"Something about burn patterns they can't explain and an odd symbol drawn over her bed. If it wasn't so crazy I'd say some cult grabbed her." Lady Reporter replied before getting an inquisitive look on her face, "Why do you want to know?"

"Let's just say we're old friends from the orphanage she used to live at on the west coast." He replied, mixing a bit of the truth with a bit of a white lie, "We came to pay her a visit but it looks like we're a bit late."

"Friends you say? What's your name?" Lady Reporter asked getting a seriously inquisitive look for certain.

_Time to mix the truth with a lie again!_ He thought before replying, "Peter Rasputin and this is my girlfriend…Hope."

He could easily see the slight flicker of surprise on Faith's face but thankfully it was so minimal that only someone who actually knew her would be able to notice it.

"Rasputin? Are you related to Illyana?" Lady Reporter asked with increased interest, "According to what I dug up on her, her last name was Rasputin before it got changed to Frost."

"You could say that." He replied and made sure to make it so that his tone stated 'that is all you are going to get'.

"C'mon, P! Looks like we aren't going to get any more info this way." Faith said tugging on his arm, "Let's check out the local newspapers for more info!"

"See ya round, Ma'm!" he said as he let himself be dragged off by his girlfriend.

It might not have been the most dignified of exist but at least it gave him a way to ditch the newshound.

&

_**A Short Distance Away, Inside a White Porche, Same Time**_

_Well, well! This is certainly an interest turn of events._ She thought as she watched the tall brunette guy and the black-haired beauty head back towards their rental car, _Illyana's brother and his girlfriend. Interesting on it's own but the fact that neither of them is 'normal' makes it all the better for me._

She had been sent away by Winston and Hazel Frost so as to minimize the potential sources of information that the reporters could tap into. It was all damage control to them and they were putting far more effort at the moment into keeping the details of what happened out of the press. That would change, though, in a few weeks. Eventually, once they determined the proper way to spin the situation, they step forward and probably launch a massive effort to find Illyana with the purpose of increasing their power as well as their influence. After all, it wasn't like they actually **cared** about Illyana. The orphan was just another piece of good PR that they were using to their advantage and would keep her around until she'd outlived her usefulness to them. Oh, they'd probably toss her a boatload of money and promise to give her a monthly stipend, but only so long as she stayed away from them while keeping a low profile. It was a shitty way to treat the girl, given how happy she made those around her most times, but it was about the best you can expect from Winston Frost and his wife.

Still she had been a friend to Illyana since she'd first come. The blonde girl had been a welcome change from her own siblings as well as the girls at school. While she wasn't quite willing to go all soft with how she behaved, the Russian girl was someone she could relax a bit with and some days that was sorely needed. All in all, she was probably the only person to live in the mansion that was really worried about the young lady. The rest of them either just saw her as another person they had to clean up after or someone they could use to fulfill their own ambitions. They would put on a good show for the cameras if they had to, but she seriously doubted any of them would actually lose any sleep over this whole mess.

_However, it looks like those two might actually be able to rescue Illyana._ She thought with a smile, _With a little help from me, of course._

&

_**That Night, The Woods Along the Perimeter of the Frost Estate, Faith's P.O.V**_

"Security's pretty tight, X." Faith Whispered as the two of them looked out across the Frost family estate, "Guards every twenty feet and cops every thirty. Sneaking in to take a look at the crime scene isn't going to be easy."

"Maybe not but it's our only shot at finding Illyana." Xander said sounding like he was planning on going into the house guards or no guards, "The newspapers know practically nothing and the police are doing nothing but spouting senseless rhetoric. If we want any clues, we have to take a look at her room first hand and take some pictures to fax to Giles."

"Then how do you want to play this? Neither of us is exactly subtle and, considering the security system Mr. and Mrs. Frost probably have inside, we're going to get noticed sooner or later." She said hoping that her man had some kind of plan inside that head of his, "I don't know about you but I don't think these guys are as stupid as the Sunny-D PD."

"Well, I'd thought I'd pull on this ski-mask, armor up and charge in there to distract them all while you slip in the back to take the pictures." Xander replied showing the ski-mask he'd purchased earlier in the day much to her confusion, "I figure if I can take a bomb blowing up in my face then I should be able to take whatever they can throw at me without too many problems. I'll keep them busy for twenty-minutes and then high tail it outta there. You'll have that long to get in, snap the pics and then get clear. Good enough?"

"Not bad, but I have something a little better in mind," Came a female voice from behind them, causing both her and boytoy to spin around.

Approaching them from the forest was a brunette girl about the same age as her and X, dressed in stylish but affordable clothes. She looked like your typical college girl but walked like she could get every guy who laid eyes on her to dress up in loincloths and promise to service her in every way possible. In short, she didn't want her anywhere within ten miles of her man and would do everything she could to 'encourage' the girl to leave.

"Who are you and what do ya mean 'something a little better'?" she asked figuring if she was going to be keeping some bitch's claws out of her boyfriend, a name would be a good thing to have.

"Just call me Astrid. Me and Illyana go to the same school." Astrid replied with a smile that indicating she found something about the dark Slayer amusing, "As for something better, let's just say that you two aren't the only ones with a **big** surprise hidden under the hood."

_With me, though, my powers are more mental than physical._

She didn't even need to look at Xan to know that he'd heard the girl's voice in his head, just like she had. Her first thought was that the teen was some kind of witch or maybe a demon but when she glanced at Xander, she considered another option. It had been something of a growing news item over the past couple of weeks and, while none of the gang had had time to pay much attention, she'd heard a few things in passing. All over the world, teens were popping up with powers right out of the comics and the term used in reference to them was 'mutants'. She'd picked up a few papers here and there during their trip and the basic gist of public response was to consider these teenagers either monsters or people with some kind of disease. Personally she didn't think it was half as bad as people were making it all out to be. Sure, a handful of these 'special people' would raise a stink and piss people off but carpet blaming every last one of them was overkill. People just tended to look for a hammer when they're scared instead of picking up a scalpel.

_I can make it so that the guards won't even know you're there._ Thought Astrid into their heads with a feeling of seriousness, _Only condition is that I have to come with you. My powers only work short range._

"Sounds pretty weak, then." Faith stated, trying to sound neutral but even she could hear a bit of bite in her tone of voice.

"Not really. I just need to be able to see my targets to manipulate their minds into seeing what I want them to see." Astrid said, deciding to go verbal rather than telepathic, "So, are we going or do you plan on hiding in the trees all night?"

Looking to Xander, she could see he wasn't going to put up a fight and might even back Astrid coming along if it meant the odds of them getting inside unnoticed went up. With a sigh, she knew what was about to happen and, aside from her own concerns about Astrid trying to poach her boyfriend, she had no real ammo to object with. She'd just have to keep a close eye on her and make sure that she kept her claws to herself.

"Let's motor, then." She said trying to sound like everything was alright, "The sooner we get what we need, the sooner we can get gone."

With those words the three of them began to ghost across the mansion lawn towards the entrance closest to them. While she could see out of the corner of her eye that Astrid was mystified as to the use of stealth, seeing as how she was messing with the heads of the guards, the woman didn't make a fuss about it. Once inside things were a little easier guard-wise but the security system picked up the slack for the most part. Cameras at every turn, motion sensors every couple of feet and keypads in front of every other door. Paranoia was apparently an important thing to the Frosts and, given how rich they supposedly were, she guessed she couldn't blame them.

It took about ten minutes for them to make it to Illyana's room and, when she looked at the scene of the crime, she could understand why the cops had done their best to keep the press out. The place was a complete mess and, with cult and magic symbols painted on every clear surface, the news hounds would have a field day with it if they ever found out. Shaking her head clear, she took out the disposable camera they'd bought at started snapping pics of everything that seemed important and even a few things that didn't. She wasn't the wizard with the books and the facts like Giles or Red, but she could tell that the marks on the wall and floor were a combo of spellwork and cult gloating. Whatever reason the kidnappers wanted Illyana for, it required they do some magic here and then they left their calling card proclaiming their greatness and the power of the one they served. Fortunately for them, that meant that the perps had big egos and liked to hear themselves talk or proclaim their greatness to any who would listen. That's make it easier since cocky assholes never thought things through and looked so damn funny when their schemes got turned to shit by the good guys.

"Well I got the pics to send to the eggheads." She said as she turned around to find Xander looking at some photos on a table, "With a little luck we'll get somethin' we can use out of this and find your sis, X. X?"

He wasn't moving an inch and seemed to be transfixed by the pictures he was looking at. Walking forward to see what was so interesting she came to see pictures of a young blonde girl about X's age that had the 'innocent girl next door' look going for her. There were a few scattered photos here and there showing Illyana standing next to the Frost family, mostly a girl the newspapers identified as Emma, or some people in school uniforms. She could see the family resemblance to X and, given how much his life's been turned upside down by that drunken bastard Tony Harris, it's no wonder he spaced out from time to time. Still, they needed to get outta there since she didn't want to take the chance that Astrid might slip up somehow.

"Let's go, X. You'll get to see her live and in person once we find out where she is." She said placing a hand on his shoulder to bring him back to the here and now.

"Right. Let's go." Was all he said before they all headed for the hallway intending to leave the same way they came.

Twenty minutes later they were back in the trees and not a single alarm had been raised by the security goons employed by the Frost family or the police. As much as she hated to give the girl any credit, it looked like Astrid managed to help them out perfectly but she still didn't like her. Whenever the little bitch thought that she wasn't looking, she'd let her roving eyes go up and down Xander like he was some piece of meat. Sure, she looked at him like that every once and awhile but he was her boyfriend, so she was allowed whereas Astrid was a complete stranger. No **way** was she letting some nobody from nowhere get any ideas about putting the moves on **her** man.

"Thanks for the help, Astrid." Xander said doing his usual polite thing but thankfully didn't break out his lopsided smile.

"No problem." Astrid said before pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket, "If you need any more help or if you find anything out about Illyana, give me a call alright?"

"Sure thing." Xander replied as he stuffed the piece of paper into his back pocket, "See ya!"

Waving goodbye to the one person she hoped never to see again, she followed her boyfriend and future roommate back towards where they'd parked their rental car. They'd have to wait until tomorrow to get the pictures developed and then send them via fax or email to the Scoobies back home in Sunny-D. Hopefully the research wouldn't take too long 'cause, if it did, Xan might just throw caution out the window and just start raiding vamp and demon nests for info.

_Not a bad idea but it'll tip off the kidnappers that there's someone after 'em._ She thought as they finally exited the forest, _Much as I like a good throwdown, it'd suck if the baddies found out about us beforehand._

&

_**The Next Day, A Cyber-Café, Mid-Afternoon, Xander's P.O.V**_

"So what'd G have to say?" Faith asked as she sipped her espresso.

"According to Giles, the symbols and the language are consistent with worshippers of someone or something called Belasco." Xander replied as he logged off of the computer he was sitting in front of, "The books can't make up their minds about what or who this Belasco really is. The only thing they all agree on is that he or it is from someplace called Otherplace and is seriously big with the mojo usage. Giles figures these guys are going to try and use Illyana as some kind of sacrifice to bring him to Earth."

"Shit! He know where this is all supposed to go down?" Faith asked sounding a bit miffed that their trip had turned into another end of the world scenario.

"Apparently this ritual needs to be held on a convergence of ley lines to act like an anchor for the portal." He replied doing his best to keep his fear and his anger in check, "There are only three within a day's travel of Boston. That's one bit of good news at least."

"What do you mean? They coulda taken her halfway across the country by now." Faith asked not seeing how the perps could still be nearby.

"They're still here because another requirement of the ritual is a specific alignment of the stars." He explained recalling the rest of the chat with Giles, "They'll all fall into place tonight and only stay that way for a couple of hours. Rituals need set up time so they won't go far. Plus, you gotta know that demon gods or whatever just love making a grand entrance in front of everyone."

"Got a point there. So we check each of them out and when we hit paydirt, we start busting heads and cracking bones." Faith said before a feral smile blossomed on her face, "Sounds like fun."

"We'll just do recon first and once we find the right one, we wait until nightfall before moving in." he said, growling at every delay that kept him from meeting his sister, "This is going to be a quick in and out job. We get in, find Illyana, rescue her and then vamoose."

"Sounds good, though I usually like to drag things out a bit more." Faith said with a saucy look on her face, "Still, I suppose a quickie will hold me over until later."

He couldn't help but smirk at the play on words that his girlfriend had just employed. If one took them at face value, it could sound like she liked a good fight and didn't want to just go in kidnapper's hideout to rescue Illyana but take down the entire group. However, if one knew how that mind of Faith's worked, then you knew she was making a joke on how she liked her sex as well as her fights. The dark Slayer wasn't the gutterbrain some people thought she was but she wasn't sexually repressed in any way, shape or form either. It made dating her interesting in its own way bit it wasn't by far the only reason he loved her.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you leave Boston satisfied one way or another." He said making his own play on words, "Now let's get moving! Time's a wasting and we got a lot of ground to cover."

&

_**A Table in the Furthest Corner of the Cyber-Café, Same Time**_

_Looks like things will be getting more interesting soon._ 'Astrid' thought as she watched her prey leave to investigate possible locations of the kidnappers, _I hope Xander won't mind me inviting myself and a few others to the party._

It had been most informative following the two after they'd left their hotel room this morning and, if half the thoughts she'd plucked from their minds were accurate, gaining the allegiance of Illyana's brother as well as his girlfriend was important indeed. Aside from their superhuman abilities, which were formidable indeed, they also apparently had access to a source of occult knowledge that could prove useful to her. Ever since she'd met the real Astrid, she'd learned the benefits of working with another mutant as well as the potential threat that other mutants posed to her. As a countermeasure to that, she'd searched the world for others who possessed the mutant x-gene that gave people her age incredible powers. Disguised as a world trip by a wealthy young woman, no one suspected that there was anything else to her travels. It had been only two months ago that she'd returned with her team of mutants and she had planned to arrange for a stunning debut appearance for them all but something had held her back. Her group had a good array of powers and, under her leadership, would do well against their enemies but there was one factor that she found lacking.

A brutal enforcer that could keep the team focused on the mission and deal with any defiance should it manifest.

While her own telepathic abilities were potent, she would prefer to remain above it all, untouchable like a goddess, while having her loyal warriors carry out her orders. She would be their queen and, as such, would only dirty her hands with actual combat if something emerged that they could not handle by themselves. It had been her intention to go looking for this enforcer but certain members of the team had begun to become difficult to control. If she didn't assign them a mission soon, they'd go off on their own to do whatever their middle class minds wanted them to do. That would ruin all her work, thus forcing her to rework her grand design from the ground up and that was one thing she would not allow. Fate, it would seem, though, had decided to deliver her what she needed sooner rather than later and all that was needed now was to win Xander over to her side. Faith would be an issue as the Slayer's mind made it clear that she didn't trust 'Astrid' one bit and was almost paranoid about losing her boyfriend. While she would admit that the young man had a certain appeal and did interest her, she would not risk losing such a powerful mutant just to pursue her own whims. Fortunately both of them could be won over in one motion if they received some timely help during their rescue of Illyana. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed a number.

"Yes, Emma?" asked the voice of one Manuel de la Rocha, sounding like he was **still** trying to seduce her.

"That's **Ms. Frost** to you, Empath." She said in a tone of voice as cold as her last name, "Get the Hellions suited up and ready to go. We have a mission to complete and two new members to recruit."

"As you command, my Queen." Empath said respectfully before hanging up.

_Soon my colossus of metal and muscle you will join my team and together the entire world will be our playground to do as we will. _She thought as she imagined the grand future ahead of her.


	33. The Wolf and the Hound

"The Wolf and the Hound" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"The Wolf and the Hound" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown herein. They are the rightful property of their individual creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever. I write for my own personal enjoyment and whatever enjoyment the readers experience reading my work.

Note: In the marvel timeline this will take place in the space between Rhane's last appearance in the X-Factor title and prior to her first appearance as an official member of Excaliber. This is mostly due to the fact that at this point in time she is officially unattached in terms of a boyfriend making it easier to slip Xander into the mix. As for what reason she'd be hanging about the X-Mansion at this point in the timeline…well…let's just say that she's there getting her bearings after being healed by the woman called Haven. As for the BtVS universe this takes place during Xander's road trip as it was plainly stated in Lucinda's drabble.

Note 2: This is a formal apology to any people from Scotland, living in Scotland or possess Scottish ancestors for my attempt at writing how a person from Scotland would speak. When I was writing this drabble/short/ficlet I knew I'd have to match the dialogue Rahne used here with the way she spoke in the Marvel comics. I did my best to read a few issues and even look up quote sites online to get an idea of how to do it. If I made a mistake in some way I am sorry.

_The Wolf and the Hound_

_**Two Months After the Events in Lucinda's Drabble**_

_**X-Mansion, Evening, Perspective of Rahne Sinclair aka Wolfsbane**_

"Och! Where is it!? Dinnae tell me I lost it!" Rahne exclaimed as she looked about her temporary room at the mansion at a frantic pace.

She was fairly certain that it was still in the room somewhere but, for the life of her, she couldn't remember quite where and it was slowly driving her mad. She'd already checked the usual locations, where she often left it before going to bed for example, but no matter which location she checked, she wound up finding everything **except** what she was looking for. Worst of, all time was running out and if she didn't find it soon, there'd be hell to pay when she met **him** at the front door of the mansion. It was their big night! It was officially the two month anniversary of the first step they'd taken down the road they were currently on and he'd decided that they'd celebrate it. Never mind that most people waited until a year was up before doing anything, sometimes five, because to him it seemed that every day they spent together was a blessing from the Almighty. Not that she could think of a reason to argue that point because, in truth, she was happier now than any time in recent memory. Freed of her infatuation with Havok, the relationship she had with Rictor gone and her connections to X-Factor withered to almost nothing, she had been both free and yet at the same time lonely.

Then he'd come into her life.

A little over two months ago, while she was staying at the X-Mansion in an effort to get her bearings and choose where she should go, he'd shown up at the front gate looking to take on the job of doing some grounds keeping work. She'd only seen him sporadically that first day, in the hall as Storm took him to see the Professor, but it had been the next morning that she'd gotten a real eye opener. She hadn't intended to, of course, she'd just been starting off on a morning run about the property in her wolf form, but whatever she'd intended, she'd come across him fixing one of the wooden fences. He'd been shirtless. She hadn't been completely new to the sight of a man without the shirt on, especially considering the swimwear some of the X-team members chose to wear, but somehow this had struck her as different. His back was covered in scars and blemishes. She could tell almost immediately that some of them had come from fighting of some kind but the others… the others she recognized all too well from her youth with Reverend Craig. Yet, unlike her, he didn't seem withdrawn or timid at all but rather happy and always trying to make others laugh. At least that was the impression she'd gotten from him both from how he'd talked with Storm and the way he was working now.

She found that to be impressive.

Over the days that followed his arrival, she found herself doing the odd kind thing for him when she could, out of politeness and courtesy she told herself, like bringing him a drink after a hard day's work. However, it was one day when she couldn't find him in the usual spots that she'd partially morphed into her wolf form and attempted to use her acute sense of smell to find him. Filtering out all of the scents of the more long-term mansion residents, it hadn't taken her long to find the one that was most likely his and follow it. It was an odd scent, a mix of normal human scent and a wildness she couldn't pin down, but its uniqueness only made it easier for her to follow it. She eventually found him working on a broken down fence on the far side of the property but, when she was about to say what she had come to say to him, she found herself unable to recall what it was. In the end she'd chosen to simply offer her help in fixing the fence and with a smile that warmed her heart he'd accepted the assistance. It was as she worked with him that she started to covertly try to analyze his scent to find out what exactly was so odd about it but, as she found out fifteen minutes later, she hadn't been as covert as she'd thought. Xander stated that he'd showered and, with typical smoothness, she'd said that she'd known that and thought he smelt good. She'd been ready for the Lord to take her right then out of sheer embarrassment. However it had been what happened next that had really thrown her for a loop: he'd asked her out on a date. Shocked she'd been momentarily speechless, not having expected that question in the slightest, and apparently this surprise embarrassed him enough that he turned back to the fence to work on it. Not wanting him to get the wrong idea, she'd quickly explained that her dating history was sparse indeed and that it was most likely her shapeshifting ability that scared the boys off.

Xander'd said that her fur was **cute**!

He'd thought she was **nice**!

It was then that they'd agreed to their first date and, later that evening, he'd treated her to a movie in Salem Center followed by a meal at a restaurant that was a step or two above the fast food places. She'd tried that night to let him know he didn't need to go so far for just a first date but he'd said that the first dates were the most important and a person shouldn't be cheap with them.

Off and on from that day forward they'd gone on more dates until half their week was made up with them. The rest of the time, though, they simply spent time together at the mansion watching TV or having dinner with the rest of the residents. Always, though, she felt like she was on top of the world and the problems she usually had to deal with like being a mutant no longer seemed so troublesome. The past few weeks had been some of the most joyous in her entire life and, if she had her way, then they'd never **EVER** end so long as she had the power to preserve it. In order to do that, though, she had to find **IT** before the time that she'd agreed to meet with Xander at the front door or else there'd be consequences.

"C'mon ye wee thing! I dinnae ken where ye hid yuirself but ye'd best show yuirself now!" she muttered to herself as she continued to move everything movable to find the item she was looking for, "I cannae meet Xander wit'out ye!"

"Without what, Rahne?" asked a voice from the doorway to her room.

Jumping to her feet and spinning around she found Xander standing there, his trademark lopsided smile firmly in place, wearing what he'd called his semi-formal cool look. Mostly this was composed of a jacket he'd **borrowed** from Gambit's room, some crimson shades he'd **found** in Scott's room, pants that definitely came from Warren's dresser and a shirt that fortunately came from his own suitcase. She didn't know whether she should be amused that he'd borrowed parts of his outfit from the other residents or be worried. While most of the victims would be forgiving enough, there was bound to be at least one who would be somewhat angry at the act.

_Ah well! Ye knew it was gonna be like this when after the time when the daft fool hung chocolate coins from Storm's plants._ She thought with a rueful shake of her head recalling the aftermath of **that** incident, _For now, though, 'tis best ye come up with an answer, girl._

"Um…tis just a flyer for a restaurant I thought ye might like." She replied, putting her best smile on while restraining herself from noticeably avoiding his eyes, "Twas an Italian place that I thought ye'd like but I cannae recall where I left the bloody thing."

"Oh. Well, don't worry. I'm sure we can find it later." He said with a shrug of acceptance, "Now let's get going. The movie starts in an hour and if the hype is to be believed, we need to get there a bit early if we're going to get decent seats."

"Ye're right! Let's go!" She said jumping (literally and metaphorically) at the chance to get his attention focused away from what was missing on her.

With that the two of them left for the movies while at the back of her mind, Rahne Sinclair questioned her memories over and over again trying to recall where she'd left Xander's first gift to her.

Where had she left that bloody silver heart locket necklace!?

&

_**Salem Center, After the Movie, Xander's P.O.V**_

"So where ta now, Xander?" Rahne asked as they walked down the sidewalk away from the theater.

"Wellll… I hope you don't mind but we're gonna swing by this antique place on main street and then head off to Mario's Restaurant for some food." He replied with a smile inwardly struggling to keep the cat in the bag, "I have some business to conclude there and the owner's heading out of town tomorrow, so I need to see him tonight. Is that okay?"

"Sure. I dinnae mind." Rahne replied with a consenting smile that indicated that she truly didn't mind.

_Whew! I don't know what I would've said if she'd decided to argue with me!_ He thought as they began to head in the direction of the antique shop, _At least this way I'll be able to get her present without pulling the 'I have to use the bathroom' line and sneaking out the door to run to the shop and then get back before she suspects anything._

It had been two days ago when he'd been trying to think of something he could get his girlfriend to commemorate their two month anniversary. He'd looked through catalogues at the mansion, gone online and even asked about the house when Rahne wasn't around to overhear the conversation. Nothing that was suggested or found seemed quite right to him and so with time running out and his stress levels rising, he'd continued his search. It wasn't until he'd spotted a commercial on TV that he'd hit the mother lode of ideas. It was a commercial about wedding rings and how they could be engraved with amazing detail and precision. NO he wasn't going to ask Rahne to marry him (not **yet** anyways. In the future? Maybe), but the commercial had given him an idea. He'd waited until yesterday and when Rahne had decided to go swimming with the others he'd declined on grounds that he had to go for supplies in town. With that white lie told he'd slipped into her room and picked up the silver heart locket necklace he'd bought her for their one month anniversary and left for Salem Center.

Once he was in town, he'd looked high and low for some kind of jewelry shop that did engravings but apparently none of them were equipped to do them like he'd wanted. They'd offered to send it out to one of the better-equipped places but that would've taken too long because he needed this to be ready by the next night at the latest. He had just about given up hope when he'd come across this old antique shop that had a sign in the window saying that it did engravings. He was a bit skeptical about whether or not the place could do what he'd wanted but, considering every other store had turned out to be a bust, he figured there wasn't any harm in giving this one a try. Entering into the place, he found the store to be like an Antiques Roadshow highlight reel with objects of every size and age lining the walls as well as sitting on tables. He'd browsed for a bit before he'd been approached by a forty-something man with graying black hair tied into a mini-pony tail and dressed in a black shirt, purple pants deal. He had the face of someone who had probably charmed a lot of ladies when he was younger and then skipped out of the bathroom window once the one night stand was over. Still, appearances could be deceiving, as he knew all toowell from Sunnydale, so he did his best not to let his first impression influence how he talked to the guy.

After the usual greetings and store lines had been spoken, he'd explained to the man what he'd wanted and for a moment it looked like the antique place would be another dead end. However, as the guy led him through the store, trying to get him interested in buying something else, something seemed to change the guys mind in a drastic way. It was a little weird but it seemed to happen when he'd walked by this old, beat up katana that was sitting on one of those sword racks. He guessed that it was meant to be some kind of historical piece for a collector because it sure as hell wasn't there for decoration with all the nicks and dings it had in the blade. It was definitely old but it also looked like it had been through a couple dozen wars and would take one miracle worker of a swordsmith to get it back into fighting trim. In any case, the store owner then began to say that he could easily do such an engraving, that it was mere child's play, but sounded like one of those used car salesmen trying to unload a lemon. However, despite his inner paranoid person, he decided he'd take the chance and hope that the guy didn't wind up destroying the locket in the end. He was really pressed for time and if worse came to worse he'd just swing by the very same jewelry place he'd bought the first necklace and get an exact double of it. Sure, it'd take a large chunk out of his traveling expenses as well as what money he had been paid to do maintenance work on the grounds, but Rahne was worth it.

It took about five minutes to arrive at the store and, surprisingly enough, it was still open at this hour. A little strange since all but two shops on the street were closed but he supposed the owner could use all the business he could get considering what he sold. Walking inside, he could see that the owner had precious few lights in the store and wondered why the guy didn't get more installed since doing so would show off the merchandise better at night. Still, while odd, wasn't something he was prepared to get into a discussion over since all he cared about was getting the locket necklace preferably with an excellently-completed engraving job on it. They only had to wait a minute before the owner emerged from the back room of the store and from the looks of the guy he'd been doing some serious work.

"Ah! Xander-san! Right on time!" Said the man who'd introduced himself before as Mr. Miroku Hachi, or Hachi Miroku if you went with how the Japanese put their last name first and their first name last, "You're in luck that I finished the engraving you asked me for not an hour ago and, if I do say so myself, it is one of my better works. Come, come, it is right in back here."

A bit surprised that the man would let them go in back where most stores had an 'employees only' sign hanging, he just shrugged and followed with Rahne hanging on his arm.

Feeling her grip tighten a bit, he looked down to see what was the matter and found her with a look that most people had when they were trying to figure out where they'd smelt or seen something/one before. This made him a bit worried since, even when she was in her fully human form, her sense of smell put other baseline humans to shame concerning what it could pick up. Nudging her a bit as they walked through the curtain hanging from the doorframe, he gave her a look when she looked up at him that clearly asked 'is there something wrong'. In response, the mutant werewolf-but-not-really merely took a moment to take a deep sniff of the air, as well as a moment to serious sift through what her nose was telling her, before shaking her head. Apparently while the former X-factor member known as Wolfsbane smelt something weird, she didn't think it was a threat to them or anything. Still, as they entered the back area that was a collection of antique oddities arrange around a large square table in the center, he chose to go to Defcon four.

Mr. Hachi seemed to be looking through his work table for the locket but, judging by his increasingly frantic pace, he was beginning to wonder if he was going to have to buy a replacement locket after all. This seemed to be the case still ten minutes later but both he and Rahne were prepared to wait at least another five minutes before they'd start making a fuss. At least that's what he'd garnered from Rahne's body language that he had quickly become skilled at understanding over the past two months. Leaning back on the table in the center of the room, he couldn't help but notice the odd lack of tools about the room they were in. He supposed that the machines were just in another room but it seemed odd to him to have two work rooms in a store especially when the building wasn't all that large to begin with. It was about then that he started getting a little concerned that the old Harris luck was going to raise its ugly head but, fortunately, Miroku's movements changed tempo from 'where is it' to 'this is **definitely** where it is'.

"Hold this, if you please." Mr. Hachi said before shoving the battered katana he'd seen in the store the day before into his hand but this time with a sheath around the blade.

Unwilling to interrupt the guy, since he seemed to be onto something and just plain surprised at having something shoved into his hand, he said nothing. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long though because if it did, then Rahne'd probably start feeling a little bored and bored was **not** of the good when you were on a date. Dates were supposed to be fun with the odd romance scene squeezed in at just the right time for maximum effect on both the boyfriend and the girlfriend. Not that he'd read about it in a 'Relationships for Dummies' book or anything. Nope! He wasn't that desperate for a girlfriend that he'd resort to something as pitiful as reading a book to make sure his dates turned out okay. He was a **MAN**. A **manly MAN!**

"Miss, if you wouldn't mind holding these? Thank you!" Mr Hachi said before putting a longbow in one of her hands while placing a quiver fully of finely crafted arrows in the other.

"Um… do ye need any help, sir?" Rahne asked while looking between the objects in her hands and the store owner.

"No, no, not at all! I just needed those moved aside and figured it'd be easier if you held them rather than lay them on the floor." Mr. Hachi replied, looking over his shoulder for a moment before resuming his search, "Plus, if you don't mind, of course, I plan on taking a quick picture of you and your item to show to other clients. The more I can show them in one picture, the better business will be."

He guessed that that made sense.

Still, he couldn't help but feel as though the old Harris luck was cooking up something extra nasty for him.

"Ah! Here it is!" Mr. Hachi said as he stood up straight with a familiar silver heart shaped locket in his hand.

"What…how…Xander?" Rahne asked, clearly floored by the fact that her locket somehow went from her bedroom to this antique shop.

"I wanted to do something special for you for this anniversary so I took the locket here to get engraved." He replied as he tucked the sword beneath his belt and took the locket from Mr. Hachi, "See? Right here on the inside of the locket's lid?"

He opened up the locket to reveal that one side had a picture of the two of them standing outside of the mansion holding hands. It was a picture that they'd gotten Ororo to take of them at the end of their first month of dating to commemorate the occasion. On the other, though, was the engraving he'd wanted and while it might be a bit geeky it really said all that he figured needed to be said.

Rahne and Xander.

Then below their names was a symbol for eternity.

"Och! Tis beautiful!" Rahne exclaimed in both surprise as well as overwhelming happiness as she held the locket in her hands, "Thank ye Xander!! I luv it!"

Without waiting for her to say another word, he picked up the necklace and, with a little work that put the two of them closer together, he placed it around her neck. Taking a few steps back he took in the sight before him and couldn't help smiling like a sap even with the quiver and longbow messing up the picture. He truly was a lucky man to have Rahne as a girlfriend and, while the whisper that he'd have to head back to Sunnydale eventually bothered him, he was sure he could figure out a way to make it work. After all, Rahne was one half shy girl that was cute and, at the same time, one half fiery redhead that would bite your head off if you made her angry. It was a combination that he found perfect for him and, while some might say he could've had that with Willow, he just couldn't shake the image of his bestest bud being one of the guys…er gals…er whatever.

"Alright, now, if you'd stand in front of that table there we can get this picture taken and you can be on your way." Mr Hachi said as he picked up what looked to be a ten year old camera with one of those really nasty flash bulb things on it.

With a shrug, he and Rahne stood up in front of the table reasonably close to one another and smiled for the picture.

"Good! Perfect! Now keep that smile and when you get back please try to remember that this was **NOT** my idea!" Mr. Hachi said in a way that implied he expected to get pounded by someone.

"Wha--?" was all he was able to get out before the flash bulb went off temporarily blinding both him and Rahne.

Next thing they knew, someone had pushed them backwards onto the table but, instead of landing on hard wood, it felt as though they were falling into a well of some kind. By the time that his eyes started working right again he was falling through some sort of starry environment away from a square shaped hole with the ceiling of the antique shop on the other side. He tried to grab onto something to stop his descent but all his hands grasped was empty air or whatever this place was. Looking over, he could see that Rahne was attempting to do the same but was not having any better luck despite the fact that she had shifted partially to her wolf form in order to make use of her claws. As the last sign of the antique shop, a place he was definitely going to try to get back to if only to smack the owner around a bit, he tried to move closer to Rahne so that they couldn't get separated but then things took a turn for the weird.

All of a sudden, two spheres of light appeared, no bigger than your average bowling balls, and immediately moved him and his girlfriend apart. He tried to fight against the sphere that was pressing up against his chest but whatever it was it clearly had greater strength then he did. Looking over to Rahne, he could clearly see that she wasn't having any better luck even though she had changed even further towards her wolf state. However just when he was about to start talking with her so that they could think up a course of action to free themselves the spheres pressing again their bodies floated back a bit and then charged shape. Standing before him now was a teenager not much older than himself in appearance but he was wearing these odd Japanese clothes, had long white hair, claws, fangs and, unless he was very much mistaken, had two dog ears on the top of his head. It was an image he was allowed to view for only five more seconds before the ghost/hologram smiled an arrogant smirk and then dove into his body. For a moment he felt nothing but sadly things didn't stay that way because just as he was beginning to think that nothing had happened he felt his heart begin to beat faster and faster. At first it was merely odd but then, as the beats hit a certain tempo, each pulse that occurred began to cause him greater and greater levels of pain.

_I-if this…is…w-what a __**heart**__ attack…feels like… _he thought as he tried to calm his heart, _…T-then I'm __**definitely**__ g-gonna cut back o-on the artery…clogging f-food!_

Grabbing his chest in pain he felt his efforts to slow his heart being less than great he tried to will his body to respond but all he received for his efforts was a black darkness sweeping over his vision.

Then he knew nothing but the limbo of unconsciousness.

&

_**The Old Antique Shop of Mr. Miroku Hachi, One Minute Later**_

_**Mr. Hachi's P.O.V**_

"Do you think he'll be mad when he comes back?" asked the aged man known as Mr. Miroku Hachi as he peered down the now normal looking well.

"Of course not! You remember how understanding he was the last time we saw him four hundred years ago." Replied a spot on the man's shoulder, "Once he was shown **why** we needed him and his girlfriend back then, he was completely sympathetic and understanding. You worry too much, Hachi."

With a puff of smoke the Asian man was no more and standing in his place was a creature that looked like a cross between a dog and a raccoon. It stood on its hind legs and wore a mismatch of outdated Japanese clothing and things you'd usually see on geeks and Anime freaks. While it was impossible to say what age he was the gray hair one could see here and there it would imply that the raccoon dog was definitely passed his prime. He turned his head and looked like he was looking at something on his shoulder but, if one looked **really** close, you could see what looked like a tiny human with four arms and two feet with a pointy snout for a mouth. Also, while difficult to tell on looks alone, if one took in her speech patterns and her clothes the odds of the creature being female was high.

"Maybe, but just to be safe I'm going to do what your father Myoga usually did in situations like this and find someplace else to be." Hachi said as he immediately grabbed a bag that had been hidden on the other side of the well and made for the door.

For a moment, the only thing the female youkai flea did was stand on the edge of the well looking supremely confident that there was nothing to worry about. She was certain that when Alexander Harris, the reincarnation of her father's master InuYasha, returned everything would be fine and she'd get to follow in her poppa's footsteps. However, after about five minutes, teeny tiny beads of sweat began to form on her head and the signs of confidence in her position began to crumble.

"On the other hand, maybe it might be prudent to… give my future master some time to reacquaint himself with the present. Yes!" She said as she hopped off the wood edge of the well, "And… and I can prepare a proper welcoming feast for him at the restaurant down the road! After all, if I'm going to be interrupting his date with his girl, then the least I can do is try to salvage his dinner plans!"

With that she fled the room intent on visiting a nearby eating establishment that was run by a certain kitsune youkai she knew. The fox girl owed the daughter of Myoga a few favors revolving around a few shipments of contraband materials that managed to get through thanks to her. By the time that Xander and his girlfriend got back, they'd have a feast fit for a prince.

&

_**Three Hundred and Seventy One Years in the Past, Location Unkown**_

_**Rahne's P.O.V**_

_Och! I dinnae ken wha' that was all aboot, but dinnae think I want to go through it again. _Rahne thought as she woke up from the unconsciousness caused by that ghost girl that dove inside of her, _I wonder if…XANDER!!_

Sitting upright as though someone had lit her hair on fire, she looked about the immediate area for any sign of the young man who'd claimed her heart almost from the first moment they'd met. It didn't take long for her to find the dust-clad coat that Xander had borrowed from Gambit but there was something off about his hair. It looked like someone had taken hair dye to it or shoved him head first into a pile of flour until his hair changed color. Shaking her head, she moved over to him and immediately began to shake him in an effort to wake him up so they could work together to figure out what the hell they'd gotten themselves. It happened virtually at the same time, her boyfriend shot up into a sitting position and a smell wafted past her nose, and both were enough to send a vibration of shock through her body. His **SCENT**! It wasn't human any more! Not entirely, anyway. She could smell bits and pieces of it but there was something else mixed in with it that she didn't recognize very well. This odd scent was complemented by the sight of white ears twitching on the top of his head, amber eyes replacing the brown that had been there before and claws replacing nails both on the fingers as well as the toes. How did she know there were claws now on his toes? Well, suffice it to say that sometime between the antique shop and now Xander's shoes had some messy modifications made turning them into the equivalent of sandals.

"Huh…wha…how?" Xander asked as his mind regain the coherency lost from his time unconscious.

"Xander? Are ye alright?" she asked as she placed a steadying hand on his shoulder to calm him and help him recover his senses quicker.

"I think so. How about you?" He asked getting to his feet and looked about the bottom of the well they'd woken up in.

"I'm alright but I dinnae ken where we are." She replied before taking a deep sniff of the air, "Smells like a forest t'me. Cleanest air I've e'er smelled."

"Well let's get outta here and take a look around. We're going to need more info if we're going to get home." Xander said as he looked up to where the clear blue sky above them.

"You dinnae think we're still in Salem Center?" she asked even though her thoughts were along the same lines.

"You said yourself that the air is the cleanest you've ever smelled, right?" Xander asked her rhetorically as he began to use the stones in the well walls as handholds, "No place in America should have air that clean and, given our method of travel, we could be anywhere or anywhen right now. We need to get an idea of the where and the when so we can plan our way back home."

"Right." She said as she followed his example to get out of the well while also putting her mind in a mission state of mind.

A minute later, they were out of the well and found themselves in a dense forest that stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see. There were no signs of civilization that they could see, not even a wooden bench, and nothing to indicate that the well had been recently used. That did not bode well for getting an idea of where they were since any direction they chose to go in could very well lead them deeper into the wild rather than closer to a town or city. Shifting halfway into her wolf form, she began to take sniffs of the air in every direction in an effort to find even the slightest clue as to which direction they should head in. If she could pick up anything, smoke from a fire or cooked meat, they'd have something to go on.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Xander exclaimed, immediately causing her to whirl in his direction to see what had affected him so.

She found him looking down at his clawed hands and he didn't look like he was coping with his new features all that well. Not that she could blame him considering what her own reaction when her mutant powers when they'd first manifested themselves. Many teenage mutants freaked when their x-gene abilities, terrified at what they'd become, but it was made easier if they had someone to help them through it. Walking up to him, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder to let him know that she was there for him.

"Easy now! When I woke up, ye were like this." She said trying to calm him down and keep him from losing it, "I dinnae ken how it happened but it does nae seem to hurt ye none."

"N-no, I suppose not." Xander said as he flexed his fingers to come to grips with what he now had, "Do you have a mirror on you?"

"Sure." She said taking out a small compact mirror she'd brought on the date in case her make up needed fixing.

Handing it to him she watched as he opened it up and got his first real look at himself and was treated to yet another shock. She watched as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped from what he saw but there was a quality of recognition there that puzzled her. It was almost like he recognized what he'd been turned into.

"O-kay! Either the Fates thought it'd be nice to treat me to a cosplay holiday or it's like Halloween all over again." Xander said sounding like he'd been hit with rueful bit of nostalgia, "Though why someone chose to give me an InuYasha makeover I have **no** idea!"

"InuYasha? Cosplay?"

"Cosplay is basically where people dress up as their favorite characters from TV shows, movies and games." He replied before unsheathing the sword tucked beneath his belt, "As for InuYasha, it's a show about a half demon fighting to avenge a wrong and stop a great evil."

Half-demon? From the looks of his features the demon half was of the demon dog variety and that made her wonder. What made… whatever happened to them… turn Xander into a half dog demon? In the end it didn't really matter but she somehow found it nice that she who could turn into a wolf now had a boyfriend who was part canine, even if it was a demonic canine. Taking the quiver and strapping it to her back, she tested the bow to see what kind of quality went into the workmanship and was pleased to see that it was of a high caliber. She didn't have as much experience with bows and arrows as Dani but she'd learned the basics from the former New Mutant. It wouldn't be enough to win her a national championship or anything but it might be enough to acquit herself in a state competition. Looking at Xander's weapon, though, it was clear that he wasn't satisfied with it and, seeing as how it was pretty banged up, she couldn't blame him. It wouldn't be much better than a baseball bat for him in a fight but, given their current circumstances, they couldn't afford to be too picky.

"Then it sounds like ye and I have what we need ta get out of this situation." She said doing her best to sound optimistic about their current situation.

"Guess so. Let's get going." He said with his trademarked lopsided smile even if it did show that he had fangs.

"Aye. Lets!" she said and with that they were off into the woods looking for a way home.

&

_**Many Months Later, In What Xander and Rahne Would Consider the Present**_

_**New York City, Central Park, The Final Battle Against Onslaught**_

The battle was not going well at all.

The being known as Onslaught was taking everything the combined power of the X-Men, The Avengers and the Fantastic Four could throw at it and endured. Each time that they thought that they had pierced his armor, thought that they had delivered a decisive blow, the monster showed that they had vastly underestimated it. Nevertheless, like true heroes, they pressed onward determined to fight this great evil to whatever fate the future had in store for them. However, it was as Onslaught was about to deliver what looked to be his most potent attack yet that a cry came out of the battlefield of New York City.

"KAZE NO KIZU!!" cried out a voice that the residents of the X-mansion hadn't heard from in over a year.

They had no time to search their memories to pin a name to the voice because, with all the subtlety of a fifty foot wave, an energy attack tore up the ground before it slammed into Onslaught. To many people this was a substantial surprise because the blow actually caused significant damage to his armor as well as forced the monster to abort his assault. Looking back along the path that the attack came from, they saw two people exit the shadows that mixed with the flames that blanketed the city. One was male, about six feet tall, clad in red clothes straight out of a Warring States Era Anime and carrying a large sword that was now resting on his shoulder. The other was a woman about four inches or so shorter than the man clad in clothes usually worn by a miko priestess from Japan. She had a quiver of arrows strapped to her back and a longbow in her hand but, unlike the usually pristine, virtuous priestess, this one was feral in nature making her unique. In the end they could only identify the duo when they closed to under a hundred yards and it caused the X-mansion residents to go saucer eyes and slack jawed.

"Xander? Rahne? How?" Storm asked as she tried to come to grips with the return of two who had gone missing over a year ago.

"Long story, Storm, and I think it's one best told after we take down pug ugly here." Xander replied with overflowing confidence as he gripped his sword with both hands, "So I figure you'll all have to wait about twenty minutes before you can get your answers."

"IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE ARROGANCE OF LEADERSHIP IS NOT RESTRICTED TO JUST XAVIER AND MAGNETO!" Onslaught said as its armor repaired itself and the monster looked stronger than ever, "YOU, LIKE THE OTHERS, LIKE ALL MANKIND WILL FEEL THE TOUCH OF DEATH AT MY HANDS!!"

"I've heard that from a lot of bastards whose memories I keep alive by dancing on their tombstones!" Xander said as energy began to flow through the blade, turning it crimson, "So hit me with your best shot, Onslaught, because I promise you won't get another!!"

"FINE, **FOOL**! TAKE MY POWER AND DIE LIKE THE MONGREL DOG YOU ARE!!" Onslaught yelled before firing a blast of energy that all felt certain would obliterate the newly returned warriors.

"Not this time, **NOT EVER!**" Xander cried as he charged the blast head on with sword raised high, "**Bakuryūha**!"

With those words, Xander delivered a devastating downward slash that cut through the center of Onslaught's attack. It was a cut that took longer than one might have thought due to the sheer conflict between the two forces but, in the end, Xander found the strength to complete the downward horizontal slash. With this move the two forces of energy struggled against each other like bloodthirsty beasts but, in the end, not only did the attack from Xander's sword prove victorious but it did something more. It somehow turned the energy of Onslaught's own assault back towards the monster, causing the abomination to be forced to face not only its own attack but Xander's at the same time.

"Dinnae think the shows over just yet, ye id'jit!" Rahne said with bow raised and arrow notched ready to be fired, "Here's **my** contribution, ye spawn of **HELL!**"

A glow came over the arrow and with a twang of a taut string being released it streaked across the open air to join with Xander's assault to become stronger than it was before by several orders of magnitude. The sight of it hitting Onslaught was nothing short of awe inspiring for instead of a fifty foot wave slamming into the monster it was more like a tsunami. Bright enough to make it hard to look everyone could see Onslaught trying to fight against the attack, to prove that it could endure even this, but its trembling limbs said otherwise. It was then, as some began to wonder if this assault would fail, that the conclusion was decided as the ground beneath the amalgamation of Xavier and Magneto gave way removing the monster's ability to push against the attack. It swept over the abomination as though it was a force of nature unto itself making it so that none could see how Onslaught fared. The attack continued onwards, past its intended target, digging a trench in the ground for at least the rest of the length of the park and five blocks past that. Smoke and dust filled the air in the aftermath of the attack and all the gathered heroes waited to see what effect if any the attack had on their collective foe.

They didn't have to wait long before they got their answer.

Onslaught stood slumped in the trench that had been dug by the combined assault and over half its armor had been blown off with the rest of the metal filled with cracks aplenty. The monster wasn't defeated just yet but it was clear that the combined attack from Xander and Rahne had been a serious blow to the beast. Psionic energy arced back and forth between the remaining bits of cracked armor belonging to Onslaught and as the fiend raised its eyes to look at the cause of the damage it did the unpredictable.

It began to laugh!

"Well, this isn't good." Xander said with an angry look of frustration.

&

Note: To all you fans who are probably asking yourselves 'what the **hell** was this guy smoking when he wrote this' the answer is 'I am not all that sure myself'. It started out as nothing more than an expansion on the drabble shown in the 'X-Xander and…' drabble collection. However when I tried to figure out **how** to expand that I was at a loss as to how aside from the usual relationship romance stuff. Then I remembered how I mixed my expansion of the Stepford Cuckoos with my in progress fanfic 'The Family You Never Knew You Had'. So I decided to follow that pattern and see how it turned out. In the end it will ultimately be up to you readers and reviewers to determine whether it was a good idea or a bad one.

Note 2: As for how the InuYasha fits into it all timeline-wise and everything…well…you can make up your own theory or you can simply say that the InuYasha elements in this is a combo of the Anime series and a Marvel Universe slant.


	34. The Princess and the Xander

"The Princess and the Xander

"The Princess and the Xander." By Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown herein. They are the rightful property of their individual creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever. I write for my own personal enjoyment and whatever enjoyment the readers experience reading my work.

Note: In the BtVS universe I plan to make this happen in the aftermath of Xander's aborted marriage ceremony to Anya. Instead of not going far as he did in canon I plan him going pretty far in an effort to escape from his mistakes, his insecurities and the visions he saw. This of course leads him into a former White Queen's life. As for when this will occur in the mainstream Marvel universe I think it'd be best if I made it occur n the X-Men Movie universe since I can't seem to pin down just how old Emma is. It varies from artist to artist in the comic book universe how old she appears. Also there is the fact that there is little if any mention of an Emma Frost in the movies giving me more leeway with how I can do things. If you need something more definite than that then think of this as happening a couple years after the conclusion of the Emma Frost eighteen issue series that Marvel put out but it all happened in the movie-verse.

As for the second crossover bit, well, I just can't keep away from giving Xander some kind of powers. I know some people prefer to keep Xander 100 human to show that humans can fight the good fight just as well as those with powers. I partially believe that as well but I also believe that there is a certain point at which humans simply can't go as far as those that are more than human.

_The Princess and the Xander_

_**New York Party Hosted by the Hellfire Club**_

_**October 31**__**st**__**, 2002**_

_**Xander's P.O.V**_

_Well, at least I fit in a bit better than usual._ Xander thought as he walked along amidst the crowd of the filthy rich and the corporate C.E.Os, _Still don't see why I had to have a real sword strapped to my side, especially a __**large**__ one like this thing. People'll think I'm compensating for something._

_Trust me, darling, when I say that you don't have __**anything**__ to feel insecure about._ Emma thought at him while exchanging waves with people a short distance away, _Besides the sword, as you called it is an okatana called Yamato that I recently acquired during that trip to the mid-west we took. This is a chance for me to both complete your costume and show it off to everyone at the same time._

_Clever of you._ He thought back at her while looking at her with a smile.

"I like to think so." Emma whispered to him as they reached the eye of the social storm.

It was Halloween night and it was a time of the year when the weird was supposed to take a holiday, but he knew better. Ever since that ill-fated Halloween when he'd gone as a soldier, he'd been very suspicious every time that trick or treat season approached. Right up until… until he'd left Sunnydale behind, Halloween always meant some sort of weirdness that targeted him like no one's business and he had a feeling that tonight wasn't going to be an exception. Knowing his luck, some unfortunate rich boy here was going to try to use some random spell he found in some plagiarized spellbook and do a half-assed job of casting it, resulting in chaos galore with most of it hitting him. Emma tried to tell him that he was being paranoid and thinking entirely too much of himself believing that the universe was out to make his life miserable. However, even with her telepathy, the lovely Ms. Frost didn't understand just how insane things could get when it came to the supernatural. Things a person might consider to be completely impossible could be made to happen with just the right spell or ritual performed at just the right time.

_I may not know much about demons and magic, my dear, but I know a lot more about how this world works than you might think._ Emma thought at him as she escorted him to a nearby balcony, _I know that only extraordinary people suffer the sort of bad luck you seem to believe you possess._

"Are you saying I'm ordinary?" He asked with mock hurt in his voice since he knew that she thought better of him than that.

"Alexander you are **beyond** extraordinary!" She said with that truly beautiful smile of hers, "Besides, I've already scanned most of the people in the room. Aside from the usual corporate maneuvering and fishing expeditions for blackmail material, not one of them is contemplating causing some mischief here tonight."

While he couldn't exactly say he approved of Emma sniffing around other people's minds without their permission, he knew it was just her being her. As far as she was concerned, her telepathy was nothing more than another tool to be used to further her own ambitions. Considering it was a biological part of her body, he could see her point since no one thought that someone using their own intellect was wrong. No one made a fuss if someone used their superior physique to win an athletic competition. True, being able to bench press five hundred pounds was quite a few steps below being able to delve into the depths of another person's mind, but he trusted Emma to know where to draw the line when it came to her telepathic peeping and, until he saw evidence to the contrary, he'd continue trusting her. He knew there was darkness in her soul but he also knew that it was within himself thanks to the visions that Anya's former victim showed him. Most would think that the demon created those images of his future all on his own but he knew that, without some serious homework, no demon could be that thorough in his vision making. Most likely the crystal ball had merely tapped into the darkness within his soul and used it to produce images that would have the most impact on his mind.

_Alone, the two of us would probably be heading down some pretty dark roads._ He thought as he looked out at the full moon hanging in the sky, _Together I'd like to think we can keep the other from straying too far towards the Dark Side._

He was about to turn to Emma and ask her when would be the fashionable and polite time to bow out of this party for corporate sharks when he experienced a familiar sensation. It was a sensation that had become honed to a fine edge over the many years with the Scooby gang, so it didn't take him long to find the cause of the 'someone is watching me' sensation. Looking across the expanse of the large room, he found that the person paying an abnormal amount of attention to him and Emma was a man in his late fifties. Fit but definitely getting up there in years, the man had creepy eyes with one being blue and the other being a pinkish red color. While he was too far away to be certain, the shivers he felt running up and down his body told him this man was as dark as the night outside. Despite what Buffy would say, not all evil in this world came in the form of a demon. Humans were plenty capable of matching and, in some cases, exceeding any atrocity committed by demons in the past three hundred years. Nevertheless, as an agreed upon rule among the Scoobies, they kept their efforts focused solely on the demon community and only strayed towards the human race when and where it was necessary.

In this man's case, though, it'd probably be better to nip this bad boy in the butt before he did something truly apocalyptic.

"His name is Jonathan Arkham and is he's the C.E.O of one of the top ten genetics companies in the world." Emma said, giving him a run down on their distant observer, "On the surface there's nothing out of the ordinary on his record and his company has a chaotic record when it comes to producing anything monumental. The only thing that has made them so successful and kept them among the big dogs is the achievements they've made in the area of gene therapy and viral genetics research."

"So any particular reason for him to be looking at us like that?" he asked, hoping his girlfriend had an idea because he was drawing a blank.

"_Most likely because he sees us as the weakest amongst the gathered people here tonight,_" Emma thought with a somewhat harsh tone from on her lovely voice. "It's been less than two years since I founded Frost International, so that makes me the new kid in this crowd. As for you, you're a nobody as far as he's concerned, so he's probably trying to figure out how best you can be used against me."

"You're guessing? I thought by now you'd have dived into his mind and found out everything from why he's looking at us to who he lost his virginity to." He said, a bit troubled by this deviation from the norm.

"I'm trying but he's somehow preventing me from getting a clear picture of his thoughts." Ms. Frost said with no little annoyance at her lack of progress, "I can say for certain that he is greatly interested in the two of us and is scheming something, but I can't get any details."

"Any idea how he's managing that?" He asked, not liking the fact that the creepy guy was somehow blocking his girlfriend's telepathy, "Could he be **special** like you?"

Special was a term he used to describe the unique quirk in Emma's genes that gave her her telepathic powers. Most people these days had come up with another name for the newly emerging demographic of people with strange and unusual abilities. Mutants. It had only made the national news stations a couple of months ago but the name was spreading like wildfire along with every fact attached to it. However, like most stories, the newshounds tended to sensationalize things to make sure they got the highest ratings or the most sales possible. He'd read a handful of newspapers that looked like they were keeping things objective, but the majority of those in the news business were only interested in outdoing the competition by any means necessary. It made him seriously pissed off the way they painted mutants as spawns of Satan or genetic aberrations that should be wiped out to the last child. He'd even heard rumors of a hate group popping up calling itself 'The Purifiers' made up of fanatical Catholics who believed they were doing God's work by murdering every mutant they came across.

It made him sick to his stomach when they actually showed pictures of one such victim on a TV news broadcast.

"I don't think so. I don't sense a conscious effort to block my probes into his mind, nor does his body language suggest that he's aware that I'm doing anything." She replied before letting out a huff of anger at her apparent defeat, "If anything, I'd say whatever he's using to block me is artificial in nature like a motorcycle helmet or something."

"So either he knows about mutants or something else that can read minds." He stated quietly before running through the options available to them, "Either way, **not** of the good."

"Agreed. I think we should make our departure a tad earlier than I had planned." She said to him as she guided him back into the main room and towards the exit, "Until I know more, I do not wish to risk giving that man any more information then he already has."

With that said, they made their way out of the room and towards the main entrance despite the numerous inquiries from the other people attending the party. Even the person who'd orchestrated the shindig, Sebastian Shaw, had approached them wondering why they were leaving so soon. Emma, of course, gave some high and mighty tale of how she was bored and how she felt the evening would be better spent enjoying a vigorous night at home with him. He'd almost blushed at that but, fortunately, after many such comments from…Anya and more sophisticated ones from Emma, he'd built up some resistance. Not immunity, though, as Emma managed to prove time and again with her creative innuendos and double entendres. It was one of the things that made sure he was never bored around her. As far as he was concerned, though, he was pretty much sure she just kept him around for his wit and the fact that dating a sex crazed former vengeance demon had made him quite skilled in the sack.

_Don't worry, darling._ Emma thought to him as they walked out the front door to where her snow white limo was waiting for them, _I keep you around for much more than just that._

If the smile on her face was any indication, he was in for some **serious** fun once they got home.

Go Xan-man!

&

_**Penthouse Suite, Arkham Towers, A Few Minutes Before Midnight**_

_**P.O.V of Jonathan Arkham**_

_Mundus himself must be aiding my efforts!_ Jonathan thought as he strolled towards his private study where he had been spending most of his nights of late.

It was a plan that had been years in the making and, when he wasn't bothered by the petty needs of his board of directors, he was making sure that nothing was out of place. It had been this way ever since he learned of his little brother's failed attempt at gaining Sparda's power by resurrecting the Temen-ni-Gru. He had warned his brother against pursuing his plan when he'd spotted that girl, Kali-Anne, in some town or another and recognized her as the descendant of the priestess who helped Sparda seal the portal. He had told his brother that his plans were far too high profile and would attract unwanted attention both from the demonic community as well as the human defenders of the planet. However his little brother, the court jester of the family, would not listen and had gone ahead with his self-proclaimed **perfect** plan. However, like some diamonds, his little brother's plan had a flaw in it.

He had not acted with Lord Mundus' blessing.

Their family had worshipped the Darkness, Mundus, for generations and always strived to aide him in whatever the King of the Underworld was attempting to do. Due to the commitment the Arkham family showed their Lord over the centuries, they had been given a great many rewards, greater longevity and immunity to all mortal-practiced magic, just to name two examples. His family had also been permitted access to volumes of demonic magic that no other human had ever been permitted to see, much less learn from. It was from these gifts, passed down to the eldest in each generation, that he'd forged his corporate empire and it was the wealth he gained from his public face that he channeled back into serving Lord Mundus. That was why his plan was going to succeed where his little brother's had failed and it had been a little over a year ago that he'd received proof of this when he'd been entrusted with one of his Lord's trophies.

The Devil Arm, Yamato.

It had once belonged to the **traitor** Sparda before being passed down to his half-breed son Vergil but fate it seemed had seen fit to return it to its proper place in the Underworld. He'd even been told that the son of the **traitor** had been put to work serving Lord Mundus and was given just enough freedom of thought to know that he was enslaved. Too bad the half-breed had turned out to be just as much a failure with Lord Mundus' enhancements as he'd been without them. While he hadn't heard it directly from the Darkness Mundus, one of his emissaries had let it slip that an attempt had been made on Mallet Island to bring Lord Mundus to this world. However it had been thwarted not only because of the twin brother of Vergil, the demon hunter Dante, but also from one of his Lord's own creations. A devil crafted to look like the fool's depart mother and trained in the arts of manipulation as well as deceit. That creature had been gifted with life and **power** by the Lord of Darkness yet she still **betrayed** him when she allowed her weaker emotions sway her. However, the failure had presented him with a unique opportunity to gain the Darkness Mundus' favor like no other member of his family ever had.

It had been a minefield speaking with his Lord and explaining his grand design without reminding the Darkness of his recent defeat. It was never a good idea to point out weaknesses or flaws in the efforts of one stronger than yourself, since those who did quickly became the recently departed. Besides, he didn't believe his Lord's plan on Mallet Island had been the fault of anyone aside from the underlings placed in charge of carrying it out. After all, he knew all too well from his efforts to gain corporate power that a leader can devise the most perfect plan imaginable and still have it fail if the ones carrying it out are idiots. If one was to succeed, one had to make sure that there was no possibility of failure at any point in the plan, even if it required extreme measures to do so. Fortunately, after the first example he'd made of one of his employees, those that remained had gotten the hint and had worked themselves to death to meet his expectations. In some cases, they did so literally but all that did was ensure that he had nothing but strong employees with both the intellect and stamina to come out on top.

So, while he could admit to a few close calls, he had finally persuaded his Lord to support his grand scheme and the pieces had begun to fall into place. Day after day, month after month, he'd worked to make sure everything was **precisely** the way it needed to be in order for the venture to be successful. That was why he'd purposefully sold the Yamato into the market because he knew it would naturally gravitate towards the person it'd resonate strongest with. If the person it fell into the possession of had a weak resonance with it, the power of the devil arm would emit a cloud of energy that would attract demons of all sorts that are drawn in by such power. If, however, the person who possessed it had a strong resonance with it, then a sort of symbiotic link would form, granting the bearer greater power than they'd possessed before. So far he'd tested five separate owners who'd displayed sufficiently strong resonance with the weapon to warrant his personal examination. Sadly, none of the hopefuls had displayed a strong enough resonance with Yamato to meet the requirements of his plan and he'd almost been ready to go in a different direction with the Devil Arm.

Until tonight at the party that had been hosted by the Hellfire Club.

It had been something he'd normally ignore or send one of his subordinates to attend in his place but that had changed when his spell on Yamato indicated a **very** strong resonance with whoever currently carried it. Checking the paper trail, he'd discovered that it was currently owned by an up and coming C.E.O by the name of Emma Frost, whose company was growing by leaps and bounds. Fortunately, her company centered mostly on transport and electronics rather than genetics like his company was focused on. At first he'd thought that it was her that the Yamato was resonating with and so he'd decided to attend the party in person after all in order to examine her. Imagine his surprise when he learned that it wasn't Frost with whom the sword was resonating but her date for the evening. He was a complete unknown at first glance but, fortunately, a few idle questions to the other people in attendance left him well informed. Alexander LaVelle Harris was his name and he came from a lower middle class family currently living in Sunnydale, California. Nowhere near as wealthy as the other guests and not a single business under his control. Nothing remarkable in terms of family history nor was there anything interesting in his social life. That was pretty much the consensus of what the guests had to tell him and it all painted Ms. Frost's boyfriend as a nobody that didn't belong amongst the social elite.

However, the fact that he was a lifelong resident of Sunnydale, California told him all he needed to know to get him intrigued with the boy.

Unlike the other people at the party, he knew the truth about this world, so he knew that the town of Sunnydale sat atop the world's most active Hellmouth. A convergence of mystical energies that attracted the supernatural like a magnet and inspired phenomena that was unheard of elsewhere, save in a few select locales. For the most part, he wasn't interested in such places, since they tended to attract every amateur who thought they could become the next Mephisto. He especially knew about the plan of one Rirchard Wilkins the First, Second and Third to prepare the place for an Ascension. While the fool couldn't compare to him in terms of power, it wasn't worth the potential complications to start a confrontation over. Still, he knew that for a person to last more than three years in the town, they had to learn to acknowledge the truth even if it was only on a subconscious level. For someone to live their entire life there, they had to either know the truth on a conscious level or be close to someone who did.

Then, of course, there was the news that had been coming out of the town of Sunnydale the past six years.

From what he'd learned from his informants, a Slayer had set up shop on the Hellmouth and was breaking every record ever made by her predecessors. Naturally, questions had been asked concerning the whys and the hows of it all and, apparently, the answer was amazingly simple: friends. Apparently the Slayer, one Elizabeth Anne Summers, had chosen to defy Watcher's Council dogma and gained a group of friends to aid her in her duties. He hadn't gotten any real names thought, just nicknames the demons had come up with, but their accomplishments were quite impressive. The Master of the Aurelius vampire clan, the Scourge of Europe, Wilkins in his ascended form, a government Frankenstein and then an exiled but still powerful hell goddess. Not too shabby for a bunch of do-gooders. In any case, he was fairly certain that Mr. Harris was either a friend of the Slayer or had been saved by her on multiple occasions. This alone had been enough for him to perform a particularly strong spell of seeing on the boy to see just how special the young man really was.

It turned out Alexander LaVelle Harris was a real diamond in the rough.

Not only had the boy soaked up a significant amount of background radiation from the Hellmouth, but residual energy from various mystical entities and/or spells. A primal Hyena spirit, a fragment of the Slayer essence, Janus' magic, a love spell and the list just kept going on and on. It was quite astounding that the boy had been through so much and yet was still standing despite it all. However, this also made him **ideal** for the grand plan he was following with the support of his Lord Mundus. Not only was the boy resonating with Yamato stronger than all the previous owners, but the residual arcane energy running through his system could be put to good use as well.

Now all he had to do was acquire the boy from that mind witch, Emma Frost.

&

_**Private Penthouse of Emma Frost, The Following Night, Emma's P.O.V**_

_I cannot believe how lucky I am._ Emma Hazel Frost thought as she looked down on the sleeping form of her boyfriend.

Yes.

You heard correctly.

**Her** boyfriend.

Those two words that she thought she'd never really utter ever again after that time with **him** at E.S.U. After Ethan had rejected her when she'd told him about her telepathy, she'd begun to think that perhaps Astrid had been right when she'd said that mutants were superior to ordinary people. After all, with her telepathy, she'd seen firsthand the hate and bigotry that existed in the minds of ordinary humans during her time there. Most of the students there had never **encountered** a mutant before and were basically just repeating the same soundbites the media was putting out. It was mob mentality on a large scale with many of them not even bothering to think things through rationally. Seeing all of that had made her decide to just write off baseline humans as a means to an end and that end was to act as her stepping stones to greater heights of power. After all, if normal people won't give a mutant girl like her a chance then why bother trying to be friends with them at all? Just use them and lose them. That had been her motto in the years that followed E.S.U but that'd all changed when she'd decided to go clubbing with the middle class instead of rubbing elbows with the elite as there was just so much pomposity and filth a girl can take before she needed to try something different.

So she'd gone to this place called The Bottom Line and danced the night away, trying for just a few hours to forget every problem she had by living for the moment. For the most part, it'd been fun but then she'd passed by Xander who'd been sitting at the bar working on his third beer. The misery, the grief and sadness he'd been giving off had been powerful enough that even with her mental defenses up she managed to pick it up. On a whim she sat down a few chairs down from him and ordered a drink while carefully peeking into his mind to see what had him so bummed out. It wasn't a deep probe, just what was on the surface, but that was all she needed to get the full story on one Alexander LaVelle Harris. Apparently a couple weeks before he arrived in NYC, he'd been all set to walk down the aisle and get married with his then girlfriend Anya. Then apparently some mutant, who Xander thought was a real demon, used some sort of mix between illusion casting and telepathy to make him see his own worst fear, the fear of becoming just like his drunken asshole of a father. Apparently the slideshow from hell he'd been treated to shook him to the core and he bailed completely running as far as he could.

It turned out he could run pretty far.

All the way to NYC.

He found a roach motel he could afford and was working as a dishwasher grabbing as many hours as he could in order to not be kicked out onto the streets. In a way, she saw him as a kindred spirit of sorts since there were quite a few similarities where their histories were concerned. They both had families they despised, they both were doing the best they could to distance themselves from that family and after a lot of personal trauma they'd both chosen to start fresh someplace else. Looking a little deeper, she found that Xander, as he preferred to be called, wasn't all that bad a person once you look past the brooding he was doing. In the end, the flickering remains of the thing she called her morality decided she'd try to do the guy a favor, her good deed for the month, you might say, so she'd followed him after he'd left the club and delved into his mind to get a better idea of how to approach him and figured out what would be the best thing she could do for him at this point in time. However, it was about halfway to where she learned his apartment was when a scream cut through the night that sent him off running. Naturally she followed, albeit at a safe distance, and when she saw him next, she was shocked by what she saw. He was throwing down with three thugs and even though he was a little tipsy at the moment, he was actually not doing too badly. However these weren't your standard thugs like the ones that worked for Lucien back pre-E.S.U, because she'd never seen thugs with ridged foreheads, fangs and glowing golden eyes. At first she thought that they were mutants but she'd never known of mutants with identical abilities like this, then she thought that they might be triplets or something but, upon closer inspection of their faces, she could see they weren't the same age nor did they have similar facial attributes. However, the real eye opened happened next and made her wonder if the mutant that ruined Xander's wedding really had been a demon.

Xander successfully slammed a sharp piece of wood into the heart of one of the thugs and within seconds said thug turned into a pile of ashes.

Now, she might not be the genetic expert or the authority on mutants that Charles Xavier was, but she was fairly certain that mutants aren't supposed to do that. They were not supposed to turn to ash if someone slammed a carved piece of wood into their hearts like a knife. However, she didn't have a whole lot of time to think things through because right about then was when Xander's luck ran out. Thugs two and three abandoned their prey, some college student out for a night of clubbing, and double teamed him. A thundering right hook to the jaw slammed him into a wall and she didn't need her telepathy to know his mind had temporarily stalled, so she decided that this would be a _pro bono_ good deed that could be acted on as a warm up for the real deal later. Reaching out with her mind, she latched onto the minds of the two thugs with the intention of freezing them in place until Xander got his head screwed on straight. The moment she made contact with their minds, though, she was overwhelmed with a malevolent and voracious consciousness unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. She fought against these sensations and tried to do what she'd set out to do but in the end it became too much and she had to cut her tie to them. Fortunately it'd been enough of a distraction to the two **demons** that Xander was not only able to recover but stake the two vampires before they could react.

After that she'd decided to wait a bit before doing her good deed for Xander (saving him from those vampires didn't count in her mind) and so began to walk away home. However, the touching of those two minds, those two **evil** minds, had left her a bit shaky in the brain department making her walk less than smooth. That was how they first met and never was there a time that she'd wished she could have done something all over again. He'd seen her walking unsteadily away and presumed that she was in shock over what she'd seen and maybe she'd been hit by a flying piece of debris (her nose was bleeding **again**). In the end she decided to use this as a way to get to learn more about him the mundane way since her mind was still too sore to use telepathy painlessly. So, after he escorted her home (didn't get quite the awe soaked response she'd expected) and after she took some Aspirin for her head, they got to talking about what happened. Most she had learned from her peek into his mind but there were other things he shared that she hadn't known. He told her about 'the truth', as he called it, about how demons and the supernatural were real, and how he'd worked with some people to fight the good fight. Naturally she verified everything he said by dipping into his mind to view the thoughts behind the words and she was pleasantly surprised at the lack of deception used. He basically told her everything he knew aside from the identities of his friends, but she knew about Buffy, Willow, Giles and the others already.

When he was done, she could tell without 'looking' that he was worried that he was overstaying his welcome and was looking for a smooth way to exit, stage right but she still wanted to learn more and, although she'd never acknowledge it until later, she kinda… sorta…,found him attractive. In the end she'd decided that the best thing she could do for him was get him a job so that he could move out of his roach-infested room and into something a bit more respectable, so she got him a job working at one of her smaller electronics firms as a fixit man and maintenance person. He'd asked her how she'd pull that off and she just said that she was friends with someone high up the corporate ladder (like at the very top!) and could call in a favor. After that, she'd dropped in every now and again when he was working late or when he had the weekend free and chatted with him for a few hours. She told herself in the beginning that it was just to get more info on the supernatural and demonic from him. She tried to convince herself that she had no interest in someone so middle class whose only special ability was that he was a magnet for weirdness and female demons. However, as one meeting turned into five and then evolved into hanging out like the two of them were friends, she was forced to concede that perhaps there was something more going on.

As the weeks passed, she found herself brushing off any advances made by other men, even if they were handsome enough to star in a major motion picture, because every time she thought about fondness and guys, Xander's face popped up. It was during a night in watching a foreign film she'd been meaning to see that it happened, though, and it was a night she'd always remember fondly. Unlike most men who'd probably have started complaining within twenty minutes, Xander had actually made an effort to both understand and enjoy the movie. She could tell from a surface scan of his mind that most of what was being conveyed in the film went right over his head but, whenever he didn't understand something, he tried to crack a joke about it and that made her laugh. If she had to pin it down to one thing, she'd have to say she liked Xander because he was so open towards her and wasn't trying to trick her into doing anything. After the viper's den that was the Frost mansion back in Boston, after Lucien's crew and then that mess at E.S.U, she'd almost given up hope that there was actually a single decent person out there. He pretty much kept things honest both in spoken word as well as in thought with only a few understandable exceptions.

It was both refreshing and caused her to treasure the time she spent with him.

It was four months later that she decided that the time had come to test the waters and see if there was any point to taking things to the next stage. The two of them had become good friends (even if she hadn't told him she was the C.E.O of the business he worked for just yet) and so she'd wondered if they could take things beyond that. Still, she had to be careful and test his reactions to certain things to see where he stood on specific topics. She had perfect recollection of how Ian had responded when he'd found out she was a mutant and that she'd used her powers to make sure he wasn't fired from E.S.U., so she started things off by flipping the TV to a channel she knew was doing a story on the whole 'mutant problem' and then monitored his mind to see what he thought of it. Surprisingly enough, the knee jerk reaction most normals had towards mutants wasn't anywhere near as strong as it usually was and for the most part he was taking the news broadcast with a grain of salt. She'd chatted with him about it and found out that while he was concerned about mutants, he wasn't basing his position on mindless fear and hatred like everyone else. Both with his spoken words and with his thoughts, he was thinking things through with such objectivity that she wondered why he thought he was dumb. From his point of view, the core issue with mutants was that the variety and potency of the powers were such that normal humans no longer felt safe. He believed that while conventional law enforcement and rules might be enough to keep normals in check, they were woefully inadequate when it came to keeping mutants in check. She'd reacted a bit strongly at that but the reason he gave pretty much took the wind out of her sails.

'_Just like not everyone chooses to do the right thing, odds are not every mutant is going to choose to use their powers responsibly' _

He'd gone on to saying that it was for those mutants who didn't use their powers responsibly and tried to walk all over everyone else that new checks and balances needed to be made. While she still didn't like it, she had to admit that some sort of new system needed to be put into place, otherwise it'd get chaotic out there. After all, if there were mutants like Astrid out there but with the power to fire off energy blasts or demolish buildings, then they'd only make things harder for the rest of the mutant population. While she wasn't like some mutants who probably just wanted to live **ordinary** lives, she knew that if the normals were pushed too far, she could lose everything she'd gained since her powers manifested. Her company, her home, her **freedom** would all be either restricted or outright eliminated. That was something she would **not** allow to happen. However, Xander's position on mutants and what she'd learned from him about his life on the Hellmouth turned out to be enough for her to take a chance with him. If the worst happened and he rejected her like Ian had, she'd simply rewrite his memories and then her secret would be safe.

With no hesitation and no beating around the bush, she told him that she was a mutant and a telepath.

He just sat there looking at her with his eyes wide open and his jaw hanging loose and, for a moment, she was expecting him to call her a mutie like all the bigots out there did when they encountered a mutant. The 'huh' he uttered before losing the shocked expression on his face, though, left her a little surprised as well since it was contrary to what she'd been expecting. From there, he had asked her questions about what she could do and when she'd gotten her powers. From the way he was talking, it was like he thought she'd just told him she knew some obscure language or had a unique athletic ability that was perfectly within the realm of normalness. When she'd called him on that he'd explained that he knew a Slayer, someone with enhanced physical prowess, and his best friend since pre-school was a powerful magic user. When compared to that, he said that mutants weren't all that strange and that he wasn't like the racist bigots out there who mobbed a person for being different. For a moment she didn't want to believe what he was saying, tried to convince herself that he was lying to her, but when she checked his mind to make certain she found nothing but the truth there. It was such a blow to her world view, such a joyous thing, that she'd actually begun to cry with happiness at finding someone normal who truly didn't see her as a freak or monster. It was still a moment she made sure Xander avoided because a Frost wasn't supposed to go all weepy like that. Nevertheless, it was right then that she'd decided that with his 'so? Your point?' response to her being a mutant telepath, that she wanted them to be more than friends.

She told him this during their next date with no room in her words for misinterpretation.

He agreed but with one stipulation that he was oddly stubborn about.

He wanted her to look through his mind from top to bottom.

To say that she was absolutely shocked was an understatement because usually it was the other way around when it came to telepathy and ordinary people. Even she herself wouldn't think to let someone into her mind and see **everything** that she was! It only took him a few minutes to realize that she required an explanation and he gave her one that both made her happy and sad. It made her happy because he declared his love for her bluntly and that he trusted her to keep what she saw inside his head confidential. The sad part though was that he wanted her to look inside his head because he wanted her to know precisely who she was dating. He had said that even if he tried to be as honest as possible with her, he'd still probably color the truth or unconsciously keep things from her. However she knew the true reason: he was still shaken up by those visions of the future that the demon had showed him right before his aborted wedding to Anya. He wanted her to see everything because he expected her to reject him the second she saw all there was to know about Alexander LaVelle Harris. It was a defensive mechanism for the most part, a way of protecting the both of them from a potentially disastrous relationship, but mostly it was just Xander's usual self-depreciating mindset. She'd see it every once and a while whenever he made fun of himself or whenever someone tried to compliment him on a job well done too much.

_He really doesn't see just how good he really is._ She thought as she slipped out of bed and walked towards the kitchen.

After promising to keep whatever she saw confidential, she entered his mind and went from the earliest coherent memory to the moment he showed up at her apartment today. It took a while, even when she was essentially reviewing the memories at the speed of thought, but three hours later she'd seen it all. Her thoughts had been a maelstrom at what she'd seen and, for a time, she hadn't known what she wanted to do first. She'd wanted to hunt down Tony and Jessica Harris so she could reduce their brains to a pile of shit! She'd wanted to thank the Scoobies for keeping Xander from going down the same path as his parents. She'd wanted every member of the Sunnydale government and local police department locked away in their own worst nightmares for the rest of their lives! She'd wanted to send a smug letter to Anya for turning Xander into such an expert lover. In the end, though, she had come to the conclusion that even with all his flaws and shortcomings, Xander was still Xander and her desire to become more than friends with him hadn't faded in the least. When she'd told him this it was he who began to tear up even though he did the best he could to stay a manly man.

He needn't have bothered.

She was able to determine that for herself after she'd dragged him off to her bedroom.

For the next twelve hours straight.

From that night onwards they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend with neither of them doing anything to hide it. However, the truly entertaining moment didn't happen until the next official social gathering of the Hellfire club when she decided to take him along. She'd told him that it was a yearly event for the social elite that she was required to go to in order to avoid rubbing certain members the wrong way. He'd been hesitant, as usual, to go to a place where he wouldn't fit in but she told him it'd be fun and that if anyone asked, they'd feed every person they met a different story. It'd be hilarious watching to see if anyone believed the lies and even funnier to see them try and pass them around only to encounter new ones. The picture of several members of the social elite believing the tall tales enough to pass them around only to find out they'd been fooled was enough to coax him into the monkey suit, as he liked to call it. From there, the fun had continued right up until the present and she didn't regret for one moment how one whimsical decision to do a good deed wound up bringing her so much happiness.

Opening the fridge to get out a can of diet soda, she shivered a bit as her distinct lack of clothing caused her to have goosebumps up and down her body. Fortunately she was no stranger to goosebumps, especially after that last **trick** Xander did before they both fell asleep. While she might not like the fact that she hadn't gotten there first, she was quite grateful that the nympho former vengeance demon had gotten to Xander before her. Thanks to that blunt woman's insatiable desire for sex, her boyfriend had become quite the skilled administrator of pleasuring and had enough stamina to keep it up for a **LONG** time. Still, if she ever saw the woman in person, she'd make sure that any thoughts the woman once known as Anyanka might have about reclaiming her ex-fiancé were promptly altered to benefit one Emma Frost. While she was certain from her waltz through his mind that Anya was the past for him and something he wouldn't be exploring any time soon, she didn't want to take the chance that the nympho was going to go all stalker on the two of them.

She was about to move over to her desk to check the stock market when she suddenly dropped the soda can in her hand. It wasn't that she'd seen anything shocking or that she'd intended to drop it but rather the fact that her arm had suddenly gone completely numb. Her time to consider this was reduced to nothing swiftly because her legs followed the example set by her arm, causing her to fall to the floor. She tried to fight it, or at least locate who was doing it so she could make his/her/its brain go 'pop', but her mind was quickly becoming about as responsive as a pet snail. The last thing she saw before her mind went dark was a pair of very expensive men's shoes cross her field of vision.

&

_**Sub-Level 13 of Arkham Towers, Security Level SSS**_

_**Xander's P.O.V, Six Hours Later**_

_O-kay! This is definitely __**not**__ a warm comfy bed with a very pretty __**naked**__ blonde curled up next to me._ Was the first thing Xander thought upon regaining consciousness, _Definitely not a promising start._

Opening his eyes, he found out that he was strapped to some kind of medical table with restraints placed at every crucial point to eliminate even the slightest bit of beneficial movement. Another thing he noticed as he used his eyes to perceive what he could was that someone had dressed him in some rather strange (but nonetheless comfortable) clothes. A navy blue duster that was gold on the inside, tan fingerless gloves, knee high boots, black pants, black vest and, unless he was mistaken, black shirt. The part he didn't like, for Deadboy reasons, was that the clothes were either leather or silk in nature and there was no way he'd ever approve of being dressed like Overbite. Directing his gaze to the surrounding area, he had to wonder at the tastes of the person responsible for his new look because even a fashion challenged idiot like him knew you didn't mix gothic architecture with oriental trimmings. Obviously he was either in the craziest person in the world or the dumbest for hiring the craziest interior decorator on the planet.

"Ah! I see you've awakened, Mr. Harris." Came a voice he didn't recognize but a tone he most definitely did, "Or could I call you simply Xander. That is the name you prefer to go by, isn't it?"

_Great! Let's start the evil mastermind speech!_ He thought with a roll of his eyes at what was coming before replying, "Only my friends get to call me that and this isn't exactly the best way to become one of mine. Next time try a shipping box full of Twinkies."

"I shall try to keep that in mind," Said the male voice that was soon revealed to be Jonathan Arkham when the old man walked into his field of vision. "However, I don't think you'll have much of an appetite for snack cakes when all is said and done."

"Is this the part when you tell me your brilliant Machiavellian scheme to rule the world or something?" he asked with as much disinterest as he could manage, "'Cause if so, please just give me the cliff notes version. TV's pretty much reduced my attention span to nothing."

"Heheheheheheheh! I find it rather amusing that you have a sense of humor like **him** considering what's about to happen to you." Arkham replied with a creepy smile as he moved around the table, "As to your request, I suppose I can grant it considering that it could very well be your last. Suffice it to say that I seek several **potent** artifacts currently in the possession of several strong beings. I need an **operative** of sorts to retrieve them for me. I've chosen you."

"Gee Whiz! Boy, do I feel lucky!" he sarcastically exclaimed before fixing the man with a 'yeah right!' look, "So what are these so called **potent** artifacts?"

"I suppose it would do no harm to give you the list prior to the process." Arkham said fiddling with something outside of the Xan-man's field of vision, "The Codex of the Infinite Planes, the Crenshinibon, the Eye of Vecna, the Hand of Vecna, the Ruby Rod of Asmodeus and the Wand of Orcus. All these artifacts are currently in the possession of several strong beings some of which are human practitioners of the dark arts while others belong to a much **older** breed of being. I have tried to acquire them myself but, sadly, each attempt has met with failure so I have chosen to take a more **unconventional** route."

"Sorry to say that kidnapping and contracting outside help in the form of uncooperative help isn't all that unconventional. Pretty common, actually." He said doing his best to rub his captor the wrong way, "Knew a guy back in Sunnydale who used to do it pretty often."

"Ah, yes! The dearly departed Mayor Richard Wilkins first through third." Arkham said as he concluded his work behind the table, "Quite the ambitious man trying to achieve Ascension, but a little too confident in his own scheming. If he'd been more thorough, odds are you and your friends wouldn't have defeated him. Fortunately I have accounted for every possible detail and planned for every possible direction things might take. Nothing can foil my plans."

"Yeah. Whatever!" he said as though distinctly unimpressed with what he's heard so far, "So, you think you're just going to have me march into where ever these knick-knacks are, grab them and then waltz right out again? Nice plan!"

"Actually that is basically the plan with a few **minor** additions." Arkham said before gesturing to someone outside the Scooby's field of vision, "For one you won't be going alone on these retrieval missions. Originally that had been what I'd intended but, after seeing your **lovely** bed partner, I decided to revise this part of my scheme."

Without warning, the medical table he was strapped to began to tilt forward until it was positioned so that he could see a great deal more of the room. This proved to be a bad thing since it allowed him to see that Emma had been abducted as well and someone had chosen to dress her up in a new outfit as well. It had better have been a heterosexual woman because, if it turned out to be anything else, then he was going to be seriously **miffed**. Leather corset, leather pants, leather choker and twin leather forearm protectors made up the ensemble that had been placed on the C.E.O of Frost International. At least the old man had had the sense to make the clothes completely white in color since that was Emma's favorite color. Maybe when they somehow managed to turn the tables on this nutcase, she'd wear it from time to time because she looked stunning. Oh, who was he kidding!? She could dress herself in a potato sack and he'd still consider her gorgeous.

"I decided that your lady friend here will go along with you on your missions." Arkham said as he approached Emma with one hand behind his back, "Her skill with mind magic is quite impressive but obviously self-taught, considering she failed to pierce my mental shields at the party. Fortunately I have something that should give her an edge over the enemies you will likely face."

Then with great speed and viciousness the bastard stabbed a blade of glass into her heart all the way to the hilt guard. This horrible act ripped the lovely Miss Frost into consciousness and as she screamed in pain a blinding light filled the room rendering all incapable of keeping their eyes open. When the screaming stopped, so too did the light disappear, revealing Jon standing in front of Emma, his arms behind his back, and no glass blade in sight.

"Emma! You bastard! What did you do to her you asshole!?"

"As I said I have given her something that should give her an advantage over your future adversaries. The blade I stabbed your lady friend with is called the Diamond Dagger of Freyja and bestows great power upon those possessed of a strong will." Arkham said as he wiped what blood remained on his hand onto a handkerchief, "If Emma Frost possesses a strong enough will, she may very well thank me for the gift. If not? Well, let's just say that I didn't have to worry about disposing of the remains of the other ladies I attempted to use it on."

While his mind was able to connect the name Freyja to the Norse pantheon of deities, he'd never heard of a Diamond Dagger with her name attached to it. In any case, he figured it was safe to say that any mystical item with the name of a powerful deity attached to it was not something to sneeze at. What came next, though, stopped him from thinking things through any further for as he watched the now unconscious form of his girlfriend slowly take on a glassy sheene. No, not glassy, but rather her body began to resemble something more like a giant diamond statue of his girlfriend cut and carved with such detail so as to be almost lifelike. Her eyes then snapped open to reveal twin pools of ruby red and she gasped for air like a person who was starving for air before once again falling unconscious. The transformation her body had undergone then reversed itself rendering her appearance once more as human as it'd been before. A smile emerged on Jonathan Arkham's face but it was anyone's guess whether or not it was a good sign or a bad one.

"It would seem that Ms. Frost's will is every bit as untamable as I'd heard. She has matched wills with the Diamond Dagger of Freyja and emerged victorious." Arkham said with satisfaction in his voice as he tucked away his blood cover handkerchief, "It will be a while before her new powers finish familiarizing themselves with her body but then I still have to give you your 'equipment'. Move him into the circle!"

With that, someone or something began to wheel the bed he was strapped to away from where Emma now rested after her alteration. Fortunately for him he could see where they were wheeling him and saw that the 'circle' Arkham had been referring to was a magical circle filled with runes, symbols and diagrams. He'd never be able to tell anyone what each symbol meant since he wasn't the brain trust of the Scooby gang but, generally, as a rule, the more complex something magical was, the more of the bad it was. A minute later he was positioned in the center of the magic circle with several small…**things**…skittering around doing this and that. He sincerely hoped that those creatures hadn't been the one to dress him and Emma because, if so, then he'd probably toss his cookies watching what the C.E.O of Frost International did to them. While he had a mean streak of his own when crossed, Emma could often out perform him in those areas when properly motivated. With her telepathy allowing her to literally see what her target most feared or despised, it granted her the unique ability to craft her revenge into something truly vicious and tailor made for her victim.

"Now, Xander, while this will be an upgrade such as what we did to your girlfriend, it will be somewhat more thorough and most likely painful." Arkham said as though he was some doctor giving a patient a dumbed down explanation, "Sadly, this must be done while you are conscious and not under any painkillers whatsoever. On the plus side, however, if all goes as planned, your recuperation time should have you waking up right about the time Miss Frost comes to. Prepare yourself!"

A vigorous chanting began in the room, tones and feelings in each word that did not match up with the hugs and bunnies he'd find preferable. Deciding that it was now or never, he renewed his efforts to get free and put his entire heart and soul into it. No matter how he struggled, no matter what kind of strain he put on the straps, he was not improving the situation one bit. When the various patterns, symbols and runes began to glow with a bloody red light, though, he knew he couldn't give up. The timer on his escape window was counting down and, if he didn't pull something off soon, it was going to be too late. Sadly, despite the adrenaline that was pumping through his system, his strength was still insufficient to break his restraints.

_Looks like we have an uninvited guest._

The sentence that had just been spoken in his mind rattled him completely because not only was it someone else's voice, but it also had barely raised a red flag in his mind as not belonging. Normally when something foreign was introduced into his mind, his sense of self would reject it immediately or make him aware of it. However, instead of a bomb raid siren, all he'd gotten was the equivalent of someone's car alarm going off. He wondered if that meant that the magic was forcing him to accept it as his own thought or if it was merely awakening what was already there. In either case, it meant that he had to redouble his efforts to clad his native thoughts in armor so that he'd be able to distinguish them from the foreign ones. Using every trick that he could recall from his research sessions with the gang and the few that Emma had managed to teach him, he covered one memory after another, starting with the ones most precious to him and working his way out from there towards the lesser and more irrelevant ones.

A dark and storming night, rain falling everywhere, and he was gazing at the full moon that was only partially obscured by the clouds above. He was waiting for someone, someone he knew all too well and someone who had something he desired very much. The rain coming down on him didn't bother him because in the end it was simply weak water and thus of no concern to someone such as he. The wind was even less of a concern, although the chill it caused him made him wonder if it was anything like the chill he'd feel once he claimed his father's powers. He remembered all too well what it felt like the moment his inner devil had awoken and it still caused him to smile fondly from time to time.

Footsteps. The footsteps of the one he had been waiting for were getting closer by the moment and so he turned his focus but not his head away from the moon. Listening to the footsteps, he had to wonder what it'd be like to see his brother after so long. He imagined that the fool was still behaving like a child, wasting his time with one thing or another, instead of living up to his status as a Son of Sparda. In the end, it didn't matter because he could get what he wanted in the end and this was but an early step towards that.

The footsteps came to a stop and it was now time to start with the usual banter.

_You showed up._

_O-kay! So either I'm being fed the memories of someone's dysfunctional family reunion or being set up to go after someone._

What caught his attention the most, though, was the fact that his mind's inner alarm system had gone down once again from a car alarm to someone's clock radio. The more this ritual was allowed to go on, the more it seemed these unfamiliar thoughts and memories were reducing the concern level for his brain. Was the overall plan to make him think that these memories were his own? Make him think that he was someone else? Possible, but somehow it didn't feel quite right thinking of it like that. In the end, all he could do was redouble his efforts to put mental armor plating on his true memories in order to keep them from being destroyed. As long as they continued to exist, he was confident that he could fight off whatever brainwashing Arkham was attempting or at the very least make whoever he'd be turned into a little more honorable. It was as this thought crossed his mind that he began to notice a tingling sensation flowing throughout every vein in his body. He hadn't felt it earlier because it'd been very faint but now it was like static electricity to him and while odd, it wasn't altogether unpleasant. However, as was usually the case, it didn't stay that way for very long because in seconds the tingling turned first into annoying pinpricks before evolving into stabbing pain. Whether this was a result of an attack on his body or his mind he didn't know but as the pain increased he knew that a beating from Tony Harris was going to seem like paradise compared to what was coming.

He wasn't that far off for soon the pain he felt throughout his body was such that it was taking all he had not to give Arkham the satisfaction of a scream.

They stood in a marble building of some kind, in front of a **big** door, him and some kind of bald priest with some serious scarring on one side of his face. He felt as though this scarred man's value to him was decreasing by the moment and perhaps with this final door the priest will have outlived his usefulness to him. He feels nothing about how he will in a few minutes be taking the life of another human being. It does not have to do with the fact that the man sacrificed his own wife who loved him truly thus making him irredeemably evil. Good or evil do not factor into his decision at all. It is all about logic, reason and his quest for power that he cuts away the unneeded ties once they stop being of some use to him.

That is all.

_Soon we will reach the lair of judgement. Temen-ni-gru will finally regain its full function and lead us into the Demon World, the world where Sparda's power has been sealed. And the one who will lift the incantation is you, his own son. It must be fate._ Spoke the priest as he used his power to unlock the door before them.

With the door open he walked forward intent on completing the process of breaking the arcane seal that his foolish father put into place. However his were the only footsteps heard for Arkham was staring back the way they had come obviously expecting someone to be following them.

_Does that woman really bother you?_ He asked, testing to see if his theory regarding the man was true.

_What are you talking about?_ Arkham asked with a growl as though he believed it no one's business but his.

_Why didn't you kill her? Perhaps, because she is your daughter?_ He asked with some disdain at the idea of letting anything block one's pursuit of power, _Did some pesky fatherly love get in your way?_

_That is none of your--! _Was all Arkham was able to say and needed to say to confirm the suspicion that this man would never achieve true power with such hindering emotions.

With speed and precision that had been honed over many years of training, he unsheathed Yamato and plunged it into the fool's body.

_To further your study of the black arts, you sacrificed your loving wife, to become a devil as well. Knowing this, I thought you'd be more useful to me, but I was wrong._ He said as he used Yamato to direct the man's movements a little before plunging the blade deeper, _No wonder your attainment of power is incomplete._

_What about you? You're an incomplete being as well._ Arkham growled both in pain as well as anger, _Both demon and human blood mingle in your veins._

Rage filled his being and almost manifested on the surface but instead he directed his emotions into actions by yanking the blade out of the man's body, executing a lateral slash across the stomach and then sliding the blade back into its sheath.

_Shut up._ He said with the chill of the last Ice Age in his voice, _Now that the final door is open, I have no use for you._

With that he walked into the room ahead, the room that contained his destiny, without sparing the one who'd aided him thus far a single glance.

_Great! I'm going to be taken over by a power hungry ice prince with apocalyptic ambitions! _Xander thought as more and more his mind as well as his body was changed by the spell being cast.

That was pretty much the last coherent thought he was able to form before the pain became so much that all he could do was receive the information from his senses but not interpret it. He could not interpret Jonathan Arkham walking towards him into the arcane circle that had now reached a level of glowing akin to a large spotlight. He could not understand when the man unsheathed the sword, Yamato, from its sheath and raised it above his head in an obvious stabbing position. Nor could he perceive the pain when the blade was brought down and pierced his heart before continuing out his back. No, as the darkness claimed him, the darkness of unconsciousness, the only thing he could do was listen as the bastard above him spoke a single sentence.

"Welcome back to the human world, **Vergil**!"

&

_**Five Hours Later, **__**Sub-Level 13 of Arkham Towers, Security Level SSS**_

_I really must cut back on those pina coladas!_ Emma thought to herself as she slowly began to regain consciousness.

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a room that appeared to be two parts sorcerer's lair and one part mad scientist's laboratory. All in all she couldn't say much about the one who decorated the place but she made a note to make sure that whoever did it never laid a finger on any place owned by her. When she attempted to get off whatever table she had awoken on she found herself to be strapped down tight. Raising her eyebrow at this fact, she then realized that she was also wearing clothing and that went contrary to her last recollection of being nude. However, considering how vulgar and unappealing it would be to have her perfect body on display for lord knows who, she might consider being merciful to the person who saw fit to give her clothes. They even had the forethought to use her favorite color when coming up with the design so she could very well see herself keeping the outfit when all was said and done.

_I could have done without the bondage, though._ She thought as she tested the strength of the straps, _Then again, it does give me an idea for the next time Xander feels __**adventurous**__._

At the thought of Xander, she immediately began to wonder what had happened to him. She herself was no stranger to kidnappings or being targeted by others because of her wealth but if she was the target, would they have done anything to anyone else who might be in the room. Her positive side wanted to believe that whoever might have been sent after her would have been professional enough to avoid unnecessary killing. However, her more realistic side informed her that that was wishful thinking and therefore it would be more reasonable to assume that either her boyfriend had been brought along or he'd b-been…

_NO! I refuse to believe that much life could be so tragic __**twice**__!_ She thought angrily as she reached out with her mind to find the brain she'd become so fond of.

Searching for Xander the fastest way she knew of, via the astral plane, she sought the familiar sense of humor and the unconventional way in which her boyfriend. With every second that passed without success, though, she found her worry increasing as, with her telepathic skills, she should be able to find anywhere in the city. She was fairly certain that too little time had passed for her kidnapper/s to have moved her clear of the city, so it shouldn't have been this hard to find him at all. Yet, no matter how much ground she covered mentally nor how thoroughly she sought, a sign of where her boyfriend could not be found. The panic this began to inspire within her grew with every moment she failed to locate her love and, as per the usual whenever she became upset, it became more difficult to use her telepathy to its full potential. In the end, though, her efforts ended in failure but she did not let this cause her to give up hope because there were plenty of reasonable explanations for why she couldn't find him. One could be that someone had placed him somewhere that hid him from her powers. While mutants were only just now making headlines, she wouldn't be at all surprised that various companies and governments had already developed countermeasures. Another possibility was that she had seriously misjudged the amount of time that had passed and she truly was in another city or perhaps even in another country. With these two possibilities to hold on to, she returned to the physical world so that she could free herself and escape.

Opening her eyes to once again behold the material world, she began to look around the room she was in so that she could see what she had to work with. True, her usual M.O was to use her telepathy to manipulate her enemies into helping her achieve her goals. However, as the room was empty, she had to look for an alternate means of achieving her freedom and that meant using whatever was on hand. Casting her eyes about, she saw nothing immediately within range of her position that she could use to either undo or cut through the straps. However it was as she cast her gaze further from her position that she saw a sight that shattered her thoughts and caused a numbness of disbelief to manifest within her soul.

Laying on a table, restrained, with the Yamato pinning him to the table, was the man who had caused her to rethink her opinions on normals.

Xander.

"NNNNOOOOO!!" She screamed in agony and grief as she left the table she'd been on and crossed the room to where her heart had died.

Her mind didn't even comprehend that she had somehow snapped her restraints as though they were made with paper. She didn't even know that the emotion in her footsteps were damaging the floor as she ran over to her boyfriend's form. All that was on her mind was that once again someone she loved, someone she could see spending the rest of her life with, was dead and it was somehow her fault. There was no other reason she could think of when it came to how things had turned out this way. Xander was essentially a nobody to her enemies and thus didn't warrant this kind of treatment. She knew that Xander himself had enemies in the demon community because of how he'd aided the Slayer in Sunnydale but she somehow doubted they'd have gone for such an elaborate set-up. Slowing to a silent walk, she crossed the final six feet to the side of the table upon which rested the body of her love. He was so… still. Someone who an unknown number of hours ago had been so full of life that he'd inspired to push her stamina to its limits. As she approached, she could see that whoever had killed him had stabbed him through the heart so hard that the blade had gone clear through Xander's back and through the table itself.

_I…I have to get him loose._ She thought as her mind slowly began to work properly once more, _I can't leave him here. I __**won't!**_

Reaching out with both hands in order to pull the sword from her lover's chest, she was once again shocked speechless as hands made of a diamond-like substance entered her field of vision. She tried to move away from them, thinking that they were someone else's hands, but the diamond constructs followed. It took some flexing, some finger wiggling and the touching of the table in front of her to convince her but, eventually, she realized that near transparent limbs were hers. Obviously there was something more than a mere kidnapping/murder going on at the moment but, in the end, she decided that it didn't matter. Her objective remained the same: get the Yamato out of Xander and escape. However, just as she was about to once again reach for the sword, a shaft of light appeared from a door that had just opened. From that shaft of light a group of shadows approached and she realized that she'd just run out of time.

"Now the time has come to see if my plan is—" spoke the voice her mind attached to one Jonathan Arkham before it came to a surprised stop.

Turning to look at him, standing just inside the door surrounded by his subordinates, she could tell that he was surprised to find her both free as well as awake. However that surprise turned to a slick businessman's smile as he casually strode towards her with his hands behind his back.

"Ah, Ms. Frost! Glad to see you up and about." Arkham said as he began to circle around her, "I see you have an impressive command of your new abilities as well. I suppose it is not too surprising, coming from a member of the Frost family."

"If you know who I am and what family I belong to then you know you're not leaving this room alive, you **bastard!**" She said in an Ice Queen tone of voice that would have frozen molten lava inside of half a second, "Why did you kill Xander!?"

For a moment, barely a second, the asshole in front of her looked genuinely surprised at her words but then a condescending smile blossomed on his face. This lit a fire in her that made her all the more determined to make him suffer but then the monster had to make things worse for himself by chuckling right to her face.

"What is **SO** funny?" She asked deciding that she'd demand an answer before she melted his brain like butter on a hotplate.

"Well, my dear, I was merely amused that for one so adept at mental sorcery you seem to be completely ignorant of other facets of black magic." Arkham replied as he chose to regain some measure of professionalism in his behavior, "Then again, since it seems as though you were self-taught, I suppose it's not **that** surprising that you lack a formal arcane education."

_Mental sorcery? He thinks I'm some kind of witch?_ She thought as the odd turn of events reigned in her anger **a bit**.

"As for dear Mr. Harris here, well, I suppose I'll have to have my people perform an autopsy and see where things went wrong." Arkham said with as much respect as one might bestow upon a lab rat, "I guess he was just a worthless nobody after all."

"YOU ASSHOLE!!" She screamed in rage at the insult the bastard had thrown at the memory of her deceased boyfriend.

What came next, though, turned out to be a surprise for everyone in ways none present could have foreseen. She had intended to attack the man with her telepathy, to dive into his mind and subject him to the worst mental tortures she could conceive of, but instead diamond fragments were launched from her polished skin. Dozens and dozens of needle shaped pieces of diamonds flew across the open space between her and Arkham and only through the mindless sacrifice of one of his subordinates did the prick survive. When the assault came to an end, aborted by the shock the attack produced in her, she watched as fragments that had been on the verge of firing from her body merge back into her body. Questions flooded her mind and she tried to figure out what was going on and how she'd done what she'd just done.

"Extraordinary! It would seem that the process that had originally been meant only to provide the bearer with increased durability and strength has mutated somewhat." Arkham said like so many introverted scientists who were better with numbers than people, "It would seem my investments in the supernatural are about to make me quite wealthy indeed. Take her!!"

She had been about to fire off a witty remark about how they'd have to catch her first but the words died in her mouth as unnatural shapes pulled themselves out of portals in the floor. They looked like something out of a horror movie and at a grand total of twenty-five strong she had to ask herself whether she should be worried or flattered at the moment. In the end she had to table the question as the monsters attacked her head on with their bladed weapons and moderate speed. Falling back on what was immediately useful, she once again attempted to launch a psi-attack in the hopes that it would unleash a barrage of diamond needles and was not disappointed. Much. Pieces of diamond were indeed fired from her body and when they encountered an enemy it was like watching a hail of bullets tear apart a target. Only in this case, her 'bullets' went through a full three enemies before their momentum was spent and lodged themselves into the third enemy. Bringing her hands up she tried to use them to direct her assaults with more precision because, while her foes apparently had IQs consistent with animals, they were smart enough to try to attack her from all sides.

_Focused assault through use of the arms: successful!_ She thought as she began to use movements she'd learned from both her martial arts instructor as well as her mentor in firearms to dispatch foe after foe.

However her satisfaction was short lived as she realized that Arkham was summoning more and more of these demons in an effort to defeat her. Judging from the look of growing fury on his face, Jonathan was moments away from saying 'screw capturing her, just KILL HER!'. Unfortunately for her, though, it looked like he might get his wish since, even with the penetrating power of her diamond needles, the demons were getting closer and closer. Eventually the time came where she had to face her foes hand-to-hand but that wasn't all that hard since she soon found out that Arkham had been truthful when he'd said that the process would increase her strength. A punch that she'd intended to merely break ribs actually caused her to impale the beast on her arm with her fist sticking out the back. Knowing that she didn't have time to think through what had just happened, she decided to use the present situation to her advantage and used the now dead demon as a bludgeoning device to hit the other demons. Eventually she grew tired of her arm being hindered and, with a wind up and a thrust, she transferred the momentum to the corpse causing it to fly off her hand and collide with oncoming monsters.

The fighting went on for what seemed like hours even though scarcely twenty minutes had passed since the first blow had connected. Only peripherally was she aware that she wasn't getting as tired as one might expect from fighting so intensely but that mattered little since she was on the very of being overwhelmed by sheer number. It seemed that no matter how many she managed to tear apart, three more would always replace the one she'd dispatched. It was getting to the point where she barely had ten feet of breathing room and that was mostly because the demons were getting in each other's way. In the end it was a one-two combo from some sort of ape demon that took the wind out of her sails and sent her crashing to the ground. She tried to get up but every time she reached the hands and knees point, she'd be pounded until she was back on her stomach. In the end even she had to admit that she was at her wits end as to how to handle the current situation without getting pummeled some more.

"Well done, Ms. Frost! This has made for a most thorough exhibition of your enhancements." Arkham said as he walked through the throng of demons who parted before him like the Red Sea, "I've been told by those in the security room that they caught the entire battle on tape. It'll make for quite the demonstrational video for any potential buyers who wish to undergo a similar process. Of course we'll need to find out what precisely triggered the mutation that allowed you to fire diamonds at me but I am confident my people can figure it out. Goodbye, Ms. Frost."

With that, Arkham gave the universal 'off with her head' gesture and she watched as two scythe-wielding demons brought their weapons up high to do just that. However, before they could begin their downward swings, a geyser of energy shot up from Xander's last known location, stopping everyone in their tracks. For five whole seconds the column of energy remained and for five whole seconds everyone watched to see what would happen next. When the geyser of energy finally dissipated, the sight which greeted her eyes both brought her great joy but also a bit of worry. Standing in the midst of an obliterated table was Xander, a white aura pulsing around his body, and, with surprising nonchalance, her suddenly alive boyfriend caught the descending okatana without even looking. He was **ALIVE!** However when she looked into his eyes there was something off there and she didn't mean the fact that his eye color was shifting back and forth from brown to blue. No, it was something more crucial. It was the promise of death and defeat that was burning ever hotter in his eyes. His hair had also been changed to a snow white color that hung loosely over his eyes, giving him an unkempt but no less dangerous appearance.

She was about to call out his name but, as sound was about to leave her lips, he vanished in a blur of blue only to appear in the middle of a group of demons with the Yamato drawn from its sheath. It was the fact that the demons slowly began to slide to pieces around him that made her realize that, in the space between a blink, he'd closed the distance between his targets and dispatched them with ease. This made even the dumb demons take a few steps back as their survival instincts told them that perhaps a stronger predator was now in their midst. Before they could think of withdrawing, though, Arkham's eyes took on a crimson glow and the monsters grabbed their heads in pain. It didn't last though as their arms fell to their sides like they were zombies. Was Arkham stopping them? No. Two seconds after she thought the fight might be over the monsters charged Xander's position with a suicidal ferocity and an unrelenting desire to kill him.

It didn't help them one bit.

In a maelstrom of blades and blood, she watched as her boyfriend tore through the demons in seconds despite their lack of caring when it came to their own lives. Every time it looked like they had him cornered, he proved to all that it might as well have been a trap for them. However it wasn't just swordplay for Xander because when things even got the least bit dicey for him swords of energy appeared mid-air before flying down to spear their designated prey. In a matter of moments, the only demons that remained were those immediately surrounding her and Arkham, all the rest having been reduced to pieces. Taking one hand off of Yamato, he regally pushed the hair that'd been partially obscuring his hair so that it rested atop his head.

"Let. Her. **GO**." Xander said as though his was the voice of God for all the authority it held.

"It would seem that tonight is my night for surprises." Arkham muttered with muted anger in his voice, "An impressive performance, Alexander. However I don't feel like surrendering just yet. I think, instead, we'll move things along to the main event."

With those words, he lashed out with both his arms, putting them into the heads of his subordinates to either side. Then things really took a turn for the bizarre when Jonathan somehow sprouted new arms from his torso without damaging his clothes one bit. Those new arms did as the original pair did and inserted themselves forcefully into the heads of the subordinates Arkham had brought into the room with him. This caused those that were holding her down to lose much of their strength and she didn't hesitate to free herself and put some distance between her and her enemies. Looking back in the direction she'd come in, she was treated to such a sickening sight that she wondered if her vomit would turn out to be diamond in nature as well. Instead of something a little more pleasant like the man merely absorbing energy or something, the flesh of his subordinates was actually **merging** with his own flesh in a disgusting way. When the flesh of the subordinates was more than halfway absorbed, Arkham's form began to grow much larger in all measurable ways. Height, width, mass and weight all increased at an ever increasing speed.

By the time all the merging was done, they were facing a demonic being easily halfway to the ceiling in height and arms that could very well crush diamonds.

"NOW THEN! WHERE WERE WE?" Arkham asked in a booming voice as he looked down with four eyes at his adversaries.

"We were at the part where you die." Xander replied before blurring forward to attack Arkham.

Not wanting Xander to face this threat alone, despite how formidable his skills appeared to be now, she fired off a salvo of diamond shards from her body towards the four eyes of the head. This time, sadly, instead of turning the asshole's head into so much shredded meat, the transparent needles barely penetrated the skin a quarter of an inch. Nevertheless, they did distract Jonathan from Xander, so mission accomplished. With a horizontal slash that looked like it had a little something extra added to it, her boyfriend succeeded in opening up Arkham's chest before, blurring clear of the counterattack. The success was short lived because, two moments after the counterattack, the wound sealed itself up, leaving only a faint scar behind.

"AN ADMIRABLE EFFORT! ONE WORTHY OF VERGIL SPARDA! HOWEVER, IN THIS FORM, I AM NIGH UNBEATABLE!" Arkham bellowed with confidence concerning his victory, "SURRENDER NOW AND I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATHS AS PAINLESS AS POSSIBLE."

"How's this for an answer!?" She yelled before directing a dense volley of diamond needles at the most sensitive spot on the male body.

Not surprisingly, Xander flinched in sympathy as Arkham's chances for future procreation dropped to zero.

"YOU BITCH!! **DIE!!**" Jonathan bellowed before sending a punch her way that stretched towards her at a speed she could not dodge.

Fortunately she didn't have to because, in a blur of blue, Xander appeared in front of her and used the Yamato to not only protect her from the attack but cause the fist to part to either side of them. Then, with a blur of shiny, reflective steel, the parted halves were severed from the rest of the arm, causing them to shrivel up and turn to ash.

"It is now the end for you, Arkham." Xander said before moved faster than she'd ever seen before, faster than she could see **period**, only to reappear on top of Jonathan's demonic head.

She expected Arkham to try and swat her boyfriend off or curse at the two of them some more for causing him so much trouble. However he just stood there, staring straight ahead, until Xander sheathed the Yamato and the truth was revealed in all its gory detail. One after another cuts appeared on either side of the demon's body, at every vital area as well as every joint, right up to the head at the very top. Then, like a skyscraper made of wooden blocks that suddenly found itself missing a crucial piece, the demonic body fell to pieces with Xander jumping clear halfway through the disassembling stage.

She was in awe.

There was no other way to describe her reaction to what she'd seen.

While she had never doubted that Xander could handle himself against a few vampires and maybe a decently strong demon, this was a whole other ball of wax entirely. He had just decimated dozens of demons and taken down a titan-sized demon as though it were a light workout. It made he wonder once more what Arkham had done to the two of them she knew that it all had to wait until they were elsewhere.

"Xander? We'd better get going." She said trying to sound as though everything were normal, "I don't think we want to be around when Arkham's employees find off we just put them on the unemployment list."

Turning towards her, Xander fixed her with a gaze, a blue eyed gaze, that froze her to the spot and made her wonder if she'd made herself a target by speaking. However her concern was unfounded because, after two seconds, the eyes returned to their normal chocolate brown even though his hair remained snowy white in color.

"Yeah. We have a big job ahead of us, too." Xander said as, bit-by-bit, more and more of what made him **him** came back to the surface.

"What do you mean? You mean the powers?" she asked not sure she understood what he was referring to, "Well those will take some practice but that's nothing new to me and I should be able to help you out too."

"No, I mean we have to get those artifacts before Arkham does." Said her boyfriend as he began to look about for the exit, "If they're half as important as he says they are, then we can't let them fall into his hands."

"What do you mean? Jonathan Arkham is dead. You killed him." She said not understanding why Xander's short term memory seemed to be on the blink.

"No he isn't. If half of what I saw is true, then guys in the Arkham family don't die this easily." Xander said before looking down disdainfully at the remains of his final foe, "It's even possible this wasn't the real Arkham. Regardless of whether it was or not, now that I know how important those items are, I want them to be in the best of hands. But right now I need the most important thing when starting a new quest: info."

"So who're you going to call?" she asked gaining a better understanding of where her love was coming from.

"G-Man." Xander replied before striding towards the door.

_G-Man? Rupert Giles?_ She thought as she remembered the nickname Xander'd given the ex-Watcher, _This must be pretty serious if he's willing to contact his old friends again._

Jogging to catch up with him, she looped her right arm through his left arm and decided that perhaps it was time that the C.E.O of Frost International took some time off. A sabbatical of a sort. To her knowledge, there was nothing big on the agenda that needed seeing to so, if her boyfriend was going off on an adventure to save the world, then she was tagging along for the ride.

_It'll definitely be more exciting than our usual dates._ She thought with a smile as she and her boyfriend left the room filled with the carnage they'd caused.

&

_**Penthouse Suite, Arkham Towers, Same Time**_

"IS IT DONE?" Came the booming voice from within the dark mirror that hung on the wall.

"Yes, my Lord Mundus. Both of them have taken to their new enhancements well and are well prepared for the trials ahead of them." Jonathan Arkham replied from his humbled position before the mirror, "Soon Alexander LaVelle Harris will embark on a quest to acquire the items I told him about in an effort to keep them from my **evil** hands and, as a result, be required to face some of the most powerful beings in the human world. Those that would have blocked your conquest of this world will be eliminated by his every growing power until none remain when you set foot on this world."

"ASSUMING HE DOES NOT FAIL ME AS VERGIL DID." Mundus said as three glowing crimson orbs appeared in the mirror with energy arcing between them.

"I have already put plans into motion to ensure that he receives aide from another should his strength prove insufficient on its own." Arkham said with the confidence of certainty in his voice, "How ironic it will be that the Sons of Sparda will once again prove to be unwitting pawns in the plan to aid you in crossing over."

"PROCEED WITH YOUR PLAN, JONATHAN ARKHAM." Mundus said with the three orbs glowing extra brightly to emphasize the Dark Lord's mood, "HOWEVER, KEEP IN MIND THE PRICE OF FAILURE."

With those words, the mirror lost both the orbs as well as the darkness it once had until it looked to be no different from any other mirror. Rising from his position on the floor, he strode over to the window that overlooked the city and smiled at how his brilliant plan was all coming together. The connection had been established between Vergil's body in the demon world and the body that housed its spirit in the human world. With every increase in power that Alexander experienced, the connection would grow stronger as well until all was ready for a portal to be opened. Then his Lord Mundus would cross over into this world and all would fall before the Darkness both demon as well as human. The boy wouldn't even realize his role until it was too late!

"Glorious!" He said with glee as he looked down on the lands that would soon be his as reward for bring his master here.

&


	35. Mystique and Mystery

"Mystique and Mystery" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

"Mystique and Mystery" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryleyunderscorebreenathotmaildotcom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material shown herein. They are the rightful property of their individual creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever. I write for my own personal enjoyment and whatever enjoyment the readers experience reading my work.

Note: Based on the chapter/drabble/short involving Mystique in Lucinda's "X-Xander and…" collection this must happen during an unspecified period after Raven becomes Charles Xavier's secret agent but before events in the mainstream Mystique title begin. As for when it'd happen in the BtVS universe it was specified in the drabble/short that this occurred after the end of Season 7 with Xander not in Africa.

_Mystique and Mystery_

_**Location: Scotland, Safe House of Charles Xavier**_

_**Time: Two Hours Before Commencement of the Mission**_

_**P.O.V: Xander Harris**_

"Okay so here's the sitch." He said as he laid out the 'acquired' blueprints for the military base where one Mr. David Renard currently was, "According to intel from my side of things, Mr. Renard is your average middle aged member of the social elite whose been a player on the world scene for a while by day. About ten years ago, though, he began to dabble in the demonic black market, looking for this and that to make his life better. Over the course of the last decade, though, he's gone from simple charms to decidedly darker stuff that always exacts a dark price from the people using it. In the last year alone he's began to acquire some 'sensitive' artifacts and talismans that could have some nasty side effects depending on the combo used." He said as he tossed some photos on top of the blueprints.

"What sort of nasty effects?" Asked Ms. Blue as she bent over to look at the photos and showed off her cleavage for him.

_Nice try._ He thought completely dismissing what he saw before replying, "Oh, the things you're used to. Death, destruction, pain and suffering of tons of people whether they're mutant or human. Mojo like this doesn't discriminate between the two."

Mystique raised an eyebrow at his ignoring of eye candy before asking, "Any idea what 'combo' he's planning on using?"

"Unfortunately, no. There are **at least** thirty different combinations for the artifacts but we know that whatever combo he uses isn't going to be long range." He replied as he pushed the photos aside so that the entire blueprint was visible, "The sort of things that would've allowed him to go citywide or even nationwide aren't cheap and most of them are in the hands of people that don't care much about money. He could promise them every cent he has and they wouldn't let what they have out of their possession."

"Any clue what he's doing on a military base?" Raven asked as she picked up the photos and inspected them more thoroughly.

"Apparently he's pals with the C.O of the base and has been for a while." He replied before pulling out a file containing info on the base's commanding officer, "In exchange for aide in smuggling things into and out of Scotland, the commander gets a cut of any profits as well as a few magic baubles like lust charms and mystic poisons. Makes things easier when he tries to get laid or off someone who crosses him."

"So we're dealing with one old man playing with matches and a crooked colonel who can't do anything without getting his target hopped up on something." Raven said with disgust at how low some humans could go, "Wonderful."

"Basically, yeah, except if they manage to pull off their little ritual in three hours, they'll probably have the power to ruin everyone's day." He said, going back to a known way to get the blue skinned mutant to play along, "Both human and mutant."

"I assume you have a plan for getting in there and ruining things for them." Mystique said in a way that made it clear she expected nothing useful from him.

"Of course. The base personnel that's human will be reduced to a minimum tonight to keep the number of potential witnesses down." He explained as he recalled the intel they'd received from various sources, "Odds are the majority of the things we'll have to get by are vamps and dimwit demons, hired muscle that won't realize they're being paid less than nothing until after Mr. Renard and his army buddy get their reward from the ceremony. Fortunately for you this means that you'll be able to go lethal on them but not the ordinary humans."

"How am I supposed to tell them from the demons?" Raven asked, no doubt hoping to gain an indiscriminate license to kill.

"With these." He replied as he removed two sets of goggles from a bag beneath the table, "Your buddy Forge whipped them up. Basically they're like thermal goggles except they're calibrated so that anything that doesn't have the normal temperature of a human will be highlighted. Kill the ones with the green outline around them but no one else."

A frown showed itself on her face showing her displeasure at being prevented from thinning the mainstream human species by a few members. He'd figured this would happen, based on the briefing that he'd gotten from Giles prior to being sent on this mission. Apparently the redhead on the other side of the table was some kind of big shot mutant terrorist who was big into delivering payback for every mutant who got treated poorly. This payback usually happened in the form of explosions, gunfire and, more often then not, the deaths of quite a few people. Now while he was far from condoning such actions, he couldn't really say that he was qualified to judge her or anything. After all, despite fighting the good fight for well over eight years, he was still just an ordinary human with a few extra memories. He didn't know what it was like to be a mutant in this world, to be feared as well as hated just because you have a genetic quirk, so for all he knew she might be somewhat justified in her views. Then again it could be that she's just been exposed to one side of the equation, one **minor** portion of humanity, and let that shape her view of the whole. If that was the case then he made a personal promise to himself that he wouldn't do anything to add to her dislike of normal humans.

"Fortunately for us, though, with most of the humans off base, five out of six beings we meet will be demonic or vampiric in nature." He said before looking up at her with a smile that had an edge to it, "Plenty of punching bags to vent pent up rage on."

"I thought you Watchers didn't like enjoying your work like that." Raven stated with a look that made her undecided about him.

"Oh, we'll focus on the mission and get the job done, but I figure a little fun along the way couldn't hurt so long as it doesn't make things go pear shaped." He explained before he reached into the bag for the next doo-hickey-thinga-ma-bob, "Now, these things are more than pretty jewelry and antiques. They're special talismans **my** people cooked up to keep us hidden from most arcane booby-traps. Renard's not a mage according to what we've dug up, so he'll only have store bought wards and security spells which these things will let us slip right on by."

He watched her pick over the baubles and hoped she didn't have any experience in the arcane, otherwise she'd spot the tracer symbols carved into some of the talismans. He'd asked Willow to do it so he'd know if the blue skinned shapeshifter decided to jump ship on him and leave him to fend for himself. According to Forge, Raven was working black ops for Xavier with the promise of protection from every law enforcement agency on the planet. That meant that she was on this mission because she had to go, because she was forced to go, rather than because she actually gave a rat's ass about what went down tonight. That left the possibility that she might bail on him if the odds of getting one's ass shot off went too far past the fifty-fifty mark. Personally, he'd prefer a teammate that would follow the whole 'never leave a man behind' moral but they'd been caught flatfooted on this and so he'd have to take what he could get. Mystique had been in the area, Giles knew Xavier and the head honchos had agreed that this was something that needed to be done.

"Now, if you'll put on that wrist band and turn the ouroboros so that the head is on the other side of the jewel, you'll see it does something else that's pretty cool." He said pointing to a bronze wrist band with a crimson jewel in the center surrounded by a snake eating its own tail.

Watching her put it warily on, he waited to see if Willow's newest invention performed as stated. Sure, he probably should have told Raven that the thing was fresh from magical R&D, but then again he really didn't want to see how good she was with that gun on her hip. With a twist, the blue skinned woman vanished, leaving only empty air in its place or at least to the naked eye that is what appeared to have happened. In reality, though, her vanishing meant that the first ever portable cloaking field created by a human was an official success. There were no visible distortion waves in the air, nor was there a blur effect present in the objects behind where Mystique had been. It even came with a vocal distortion field that would make it extremely difficult for anyone to pinpoint the bearer on sound alone. If all went according to plan, it'd also render the wearer invisible to everything below level three mystic sight spells. Fortunately those spellcasters capable of something above level three weren't in the country at the moment, nor could any store-bought spell or talisman manage such a feat.

"So what do you think?" He asked to open air since he doubted that she'd still be where she'd been when she'd activated the talisman.

"I think that this bauble has some interesting uses." Raven replied as two **soft** masses pressed into his back.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you." He said trying to keep his mind off what was pressed into his back, "However, before you decide to pay a visit to any men's locker rooms, I think I should warn you that any **excitement** of that nature will destabilize the invisibility field. A little safety measure so that no pervs could use it."

He, of course, didn't need to tell the shapeshifter that but a former Watcher volunteered to beta test version one of the talisman. Sadly, after fifteen minutes of silence and no sign of the man being anywhere in the room, they'd gone looking for him figuring he wanted to field test it by starting a game of hide and seek. They'd searched high and low for the guy, using all the means that vamps, demons and mages might use during a Slayer mission. However, in the end, it wasn't one of the active searchers that found the guy but rather by Kennedy in the girl's locker room. The perv had been scoping out the Slayers as they changed after a workout but, fortunately, the idiot's jerking off gave him away to the Slayer's sensitive senses. Needless to say the man was immediately fired but, even if they had been of a mind to be lenient with him, he'd be useless for field work seeing as how his right leg had been broken so well he needed a cane to walk. After that they made certain to include features that would make it impossible for someone to use it for perverted schemes.

Looking over his shoulder, he watched and waited for the invisibility field to begin to collapse but was oddly surprised to find not a single thing had changed **at ALL**. Then again it was possible that the woman was the one person who could use the talisman in such a way. After all, every file he'd read described her as being a heartless woman who liked to mess with people's heads in whatever way was most productive. Therefore she could theoretically seduce, screw and then leave a guy without feeling anything close to what would be needed to trigger the talisman safeguards. Fortunately for the entire world there was another safeguard built into the wristband that should be kicking in any moment now.

"What?" Raven rhetorically asked as she faded into visibility before his eyes.

"That's another safeguard we built into it. Much like everything else portable in this world, it has a limited charge life to it. Fully charged, it lasts for a little under two hours before automatically shutting down and beginning the recharge process." He explained before taking two freshly charged ones from the bag at his feet out, "The recharge process takes about a month at its usual speed. Give it to the head Wicca at the Watcher's Council and it can be ready for use again in under an hour."

"Not a lot of trust in the Watcher's Council then?" Raven asked as she took off the wristband with a mild look of disappointment.

"Oh, we trust one another well enough, but when you do what we do, there's always the chance that something could change one of our people." He replied as he prepared to explain the next magical widget that he'd brought with him, "When you fight against the darkness, there's always the risk that you'll get poisoned by it. We do our best to make sure that doesn't happen but there's always that one percent chance we have to watch out for."

"Smart." Mystique said without much sincerity in her voice.

_Yep. This is going to be a fun mission._ He thought as his imagination provided him with all the ways it could go wrong because of this woman.

&

_**Location: Outside of the Military Base**_

_**Time: T-Minus Two Minutes Before Mission Commencement **_

_**P.O.V: Mystique aka Raven Darkholme**_

_Wonder how Harris got to be so much like Fury._ She thought she gazed down at the military compound from the edge of a nearby forest.

It was a question she'd started to ask herself as she watched the young man gear up for the mission to infiltrate the military base. Most people wouldn't catch half of what she did but, thanks to her efforts to pick up every nuance of a person in order to properly mimic them, she caught everything. While tainted, much of his movements matched what she'd picked up on Nick Fury in the past, as well a few other odds and ends. It was a curious oddity but then that was pretty much what she'd come to expect from the young man in front of her based on what she'd seen thus far. When she'd first met him, she'd thought him some hopeless errand boy that her real contact had sent to pass on info or take her to where he/she was. Then, after it'd been revealed that he was her contact, she'd been surprised to learn that he'd been fighting demons for eight years straight and was only a flatscan. When they'd entered the hotel room and began going over the blueprints and gear, though, she found that, unlike the Watchers she'd bumped into in the past, this one wasn't some holier than thou Brit or prejudiced bigot. He stayed professional the entire way through and even her attempts to play on his hormones didn't get the result she'd expected. So, either he was a stuck up prejudiced bigot with potent self-control or he really didn't mind that she was a mutant **or** a terrorist that everyone else looked at like she was a monster. Okay, so he was probably a little more worried about her status as a terrorist than the mutant part but that was just basic survival instinct. All in all, she thought this meant she could at least respect his professionalism, if nothing else.

Looking to her right, she watched as he used the goggles to take stock of the guards that were patrolling both the perimeter of the base as well as every open space inside of the fence. She'd already done a quick once over and was somewhat happy to see that most of the guards were indeed either demons or vampires, if Forge's goggles were working as intended. However, there was something that she noticed and, judging by the growing frown on Harris' face, he'd noticed it as well and was trying to prove his instincts wrong by being more thorough. Unfortunately, if a growl of annoyance that was only a few shades below Logan's was any indication, he'd just had his instinctual appraisal of the situation proven right.

"Too few guards, right?" She asked just to make sure it wasn't something else he was upset about.

"Yep. That and from what I can tell, the vamps are newbies, barely ten years old, and the demons while human in appearance are essentially dumb muscle." Xander replied with a wary shake of his head, "Sure, it's great that none of the goons are smart enough to get any smart ideas going, but it's lousy if you want to protect a place. Either those vamps are all former military or Renard really didn't think that his moving and shaking would attract any attention."

"Figure they're letting us in?" she asked since it was her opinion that either Renard was stupid or expecting company and wanted them closer before springing the trap.

"Most likely. Either that or they want us to think we've got the wrong place and start looking someplace else." Watcher Harris replied as he pushed a few buttons on the goggles, "Still, I trust the mojo masters back at Watcher HQ. If they say this is the place, then this is the place."

"So we're still going in?" She asked, not entirely enthusiastic about going into a trap even if she knew it was a trap.

Contrary to that huge sandbox movie, knowing that you were walking into a trap was **not** as helpful as was implied.

"Yep. Except this time we add a little chaos to the mix so this trap doesn't work out like Renard probably wants it to." He replied before he took out a walkie talkie and began to press and release the transmission button in a specific pattern for two minutes before stopping.

"What are you doing?" She asked, not able to think of any way doing something like that would be useful to them.

"Well, I'd planned something out for our escape if we were ever spotted but now it's what's going to get us inside without any trouble." He replied with a smile as he began to work his way towards the base.

Deciding that she might as well follow him since Xavier'd be pissed if she let the human get himself killed while she stood by and did nothing, she also began to advance on the base. It was just as they reached the point where they could be spotted by the guards that she heard the sound of an airplane approaching their position. Worried that it might be some surprise of Renard's, she turned to Harris to tell him about it but not only was he aware of the incoming aircraft, he had a smile on his face. Was this the escape plan he'd just called in with his walkie talkie? She soon got her affirmative answer when an old plane cleared the trees, descended on the base and then began to spray out some sort of mist from its rear that settled quickly on the target area. It only took a single sniff from her nose to make her recoil in disgust as well as close up her nose because, whatever that mist was, it was worse than any sewer on the planet. Harris wasn't liking it either but seemed to be pleased with the results it was having on the base guards since those that weren't rolling about on the ground in pain were covering their faces.

"Demons and vamps have enhanced senses that'd pick up our breathing as well as any smell we gave off." Xander explained as he began to use the mini-wire cutters to cut them an entrance in the fence, "With that stuff floating about, they won't be able to smell anything and, considering how sensitive some of their noses are, I'm pretty sure they're having a hard time even thinking right about now."

_That'll definitely make things easier._ She thought with an approving grin as she slipped through the hole he'd made in the fence, _Not as much fun but definitely easier._

Once through, they ran for the main base complex using their goggles to dodge and weave their way through the guards staggering about until they reached an entrance that was on the opposite side of the base from the one the mission plan had told them to use. Another point in the boy's favor because, not only was this not in the mission plan, but it was also not one of the more recommended ways of entering the base due to the fact that it'd have them walking right by the main guard station inside. Still, the unexpectedness of their entering there would buy them a few seconds and it'd give her a light warm up taking care of any guards that might be there. With a little application of one of Forge's electronic lockpicks, the door popped open and they both slipped inside as swiftly as possible. True to form, the second they were in the door bullets were sent their way by the guards but, thankfully, one of the baubles Xander'd brought to the show forced the metal projectiles just enough off course to miss. That was more than enough of an edge for her to take care of the guards but, sadly, all she'd been armed with was the usual tranq gun. Once again, Saint Charlie's doctrine against killing, no matter what the situation, prevented her from dealing death to her opponents. Watching the ashes fall to the ground, she couldn't understand why Xavier was even against killing vampires and demons since both species were beyond all hope of rehabilitation.

Fortunately Xander displayed no such reverence for the lives of the vampiric and demonic guards as he slew targets as fast as they became available.

He surprised her more than she would ever admit verbally because, even with him being down one eye, he was managing to hit the bullseye nine times out of ten. The one time he missed was where she stepped in and finished off the unlucky demon or vampire with a lethal dosage of tranquilizer. After all, even the most non-lethal weapon imaginable could kill if the person using it got creative enough with how they used it. Inside of ten minutes they were down the halls, watching each others backs (or backsides**,** in some cases) as they headed to where their intel said the spellcasting would be done. Once there, they'd 'liberate' the things Renard planned on using for his ritual and then kill the man himself. Not that killing was ever a part of the original mission plan handed to her by Xavier but both she and Xander believed that the man needed to die. Harris' reasoning was that if this man could get ahold of these artifacts, he could get ahold of others and there was no guarantee that he'd be stopped next time. Therefore, in order to keep the rich man from shopping on the mystical black magic market ever again, they were going to introduce him to a terminal lead diet. She had to smile at that way of thinking. In a way, it wasn't all that different from her viewpoint when it came to ordinary humans. She wanted them dead because she knew that it was only a matter of time before they declared genetic war on mutants and attempted to slaughter her entire race. Therefore, she favored a pre-emptive strike since any war that broke out would result in massive mutant casualties, even if they did eventually win.

It almost made her wish that Xander was actually a mutant.

After fifteen minutes of working their way through the maze of hallways, staircases and elevators, they arrived at the room where the ritual was taking place. With a gesture to the baubles that were supposed to protect them from any protective wards or security spells, he indicated that they should be activated. With a twist, a press and an incantation it was done. Then it was her turn to bypass the conventional security measures on the door but it was almost a disappointment how easy it was to do that. After Harris took a moment to make sure there were no mystical problems that would pop up if anyone but Renard opened the door, they entered. What she saw in that room immediately made her write the rich fop off as an amateurish dabbler with no true knowledge of what he was using. She was far from being an expert when it came to magic and the paranormal but even she knew enough to be able to tell that half the stuff that was in the room was either useless junk or half-baked forgeries that wouldn't do half as good as the real deals would. Still, the few things that were the real deal were the artifacts that they'd been sent to procure and while she stood guard, Xander went about putting them into their assigned bags before stuffing them into his backpack. Apparently even physical contact between two or more artifacts could produce an unsavory reaction and so they had to be kept separate.

"Alright, we're done. Time to make with the great escape." Xander said before standing up and heading for the doorway with his collapsible crossbow in his hands.

He took the lead this time but it was as she too entered the hallway that her paranoia spiked, warning her that something was about to go pear shaped. While they had encountered quite a bit of resistance getting to the room in question, the room itself was pitifully under protected. She'd expected Renard's strongest defenses to be centered on the room but this was a level of security only the high end jewelry shops employed. However, any further attempt to figure out why her inner Ms. Murphy was yelling at her was cut off as mystic circles of some kind snapped into place. In front of them, behind them, on the walls, on floor and on the ceiling they appeared. They appeared and they brought a ton of pain with them. Before she could move at all, electricity arced between the circles, bombarding anything caught between them with quite a few volts of energy. She could see the talismans that had been supposed to protect them cracking under the pressure of the assault until finally they shattered explosively, drawing blood from her and Harris.

Then the real pain began.

Apparently, as she would later learn, the protective talismans had been doing their job but were only able to take about half the electricity resulting in the run off hitting the two of them. Apparently she'd underestimated both Xander's crew and Renard.

Xander's crew she'd slap around for the pain she was feeling right now.

Renard, however, would die.

After suffering for ten days straight.

It was these thoughts that she carried with her into the depths of unconsciousness as darkness overwhelmed her vision.

&

_**Location: Room of Ritual, Three Levels Below the Surface of the Base**_

_**Time: One Hour After the Failure of the Mission**_

_**P.O.V: Xander Harris**_

"Ah! Glad to see you're awake, Mr. Harris," Came an unfamiliar voice as the darkness dispersed and the colors of the real world were made known to him once more.

Looking around, he could see that he'd woken up in a room much more befitting the performing of a grand magical ritual than what he and Mystique had run into before the unscheduled nap time. Runes and symbols were in all the right places but, oddly enough, they'd been mixed with modern technology in a way he doubted was natural. Generally speaking, it was never a good idea to mix magic with science since the two disciplines were not only opposed to one another on a fundamental level but also tended to have unpredictable side effects during the few times they were even partially successful. So, basically, it was both potentially dangerous to the user as well as a possible waste of resources to try and mix science with sorcery. However, as he spotted a man not far from him that matched the picture of Renard, it looked like it was going to take at least one more idiot before the world learned how stupid it was to mix mojo with science. It was right about then that he noticed something that made him jot Renard's name down on his own personal shit list.

Someone had stripped him naked.

Stripped him naked and strapped him to a metal table on some kind of platform.

BIG MISTAKE.

A testing of the straps informed him he wasn't going to be able to muscle his way out of confinement at the moment so he'd have to employ the old 'wait for the right opportunity' strategy if he wanted to turn the tables on the rich fop who was either smarter than he let on or had a subordinate who made up for his low I.Q. Looking around, he spotted Raven similarly strapped down but with a few techno devices placed at her joints, flashing lights and everything. Obviously they were intended to keep the woman from shapshifting her way out of confinement and since Mystique was still there, they obviously performed as designed. Judging from the look of fury on her face, it looked like he might have to play a few rounds of rock, paper, scissors with her for the right to pummel Renard.

Good thing he was pretty good at that game.

Returning his gaze to David Renard, he decided that it was time to make with the Scooby approved method of handling situations like these.

"Eh what's up, doc?" He asked using his best Bugs Bunny voice while looking at the guy like he was a nobody, "'cause I gotta tell ya, I don't do guy-guy-girl threesomes and I'm definitely not into the whole S&M thing."

"Ah, the famous Scooby wit I've heard about. Quite juvenile but I suppose it might be amusing for someone of your low class breeding." Renard said, looking completely unaffected by the jab to his sexual preferences, "To answer your question, we're about to have a little fun now that the guest of honor has arrived. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Darkholme, or perhaps you'd prefer your terrorist moniker 'Mystique'. I must say the name suits you quite nicely."

"So this was all a set-up?" Raven asked, sounding less than pleased at being tricked, "There's no world ending ritual going on tonight?"

"Oh, there is going to be quite the feat of magic performed here tonight, my dear, but not of the variety either your or Mr. Harris' employers were expecting." Renard said as he fell into the usual blowhard villain role, "It was quite a bit of trouble leaving those clues for your compatriots to find and even harder to make sure they deciphered them in time to make sure only you could 'save the day'. Nevertheless, things went swimmingly and I even gained a bonus in the form of young Mr. Harris here. I'd originally intended for this to be a solo mission for you, Mystique, but as it so happens there's a role in my plans available for the one eyed man here so everything worked out in the end."

"And those plans would be?" He asked in his most bored tone of voice as though he'd heard all the villain speeches before.

"Well, suffice it to say that while I might be amongst the most wealthy people on the planet, I have discovered an inherent flaw in my position. I am going to die some day." Renard replied, not sounding perturbed in the least, "Whether it be by old age or some unfortunate accident, I will die. This is unacceptable to me. I refuse to be torn from all I have built only for my riches to be divided amongst my lowbred associates. Therefore, I have spent the past three years attempting to locate a means to rectify the situation."

"What? You plan on taking it all with you when you go?"

"No, I'm not. After all, what possible worth could they have in the afterlife?" Renard asked rhetorically with a dismissive gesture of his hand, "No, I plan to gain the prize that all great men desire: immortality. I first examined modern medicine and science for the key to this wonderful state but, sadly, they're still having problems with generic diseases, so that was of no help. Next I turned to sorcery and while there were indeed a great many means by which one could become immortal, all were either too hard to acquire or came with unpleasant strings attached. It was as I sat in front of my television contemplating the next direction I should go in when Fate itself showed me the way. Mutants."

"Mutants?!" He asked, clearly not seeing the connection between mutants and immortality.

"Did I stutter? Yes, I said mutants! Those genetic misfits possessing powers and abilities that make them veritable gods among men. It struck me that one of them might very well possess the means by which I could gain true immortality." Renard replied with a little annoyance beginning to slip through the cracks of his good mood, "Thus I searched everywhere, read every file I could find, in an effort to find just the right mutant. At first I thought that Wolverine, Sabertooth or the fabled Apocalypse might be the answer to my problems but, in the end, they proved to be too costly to acquire. Then I learned of you my dear Ms. Darkholme. A shapeshifter that, by all accounts, has been around for easily a century and yet doesn't look a day older than your average anorexic model strutting down the fashion runway. Also, given your rather colorful resume, your advanced age does not impede you in the least. You, my dear, are the key to my plans."

"I don't see how my mutant power is going to help you stay young, Renard." Mystique said, sounding less than pleased that she'd been the subject of such thorough research.

"Oh, not by itself it won't, however through my various purchases from the black magic market and state of the art technology, it will work wonders for me." Renard said with a smile that instantly meant the punchline was incoming, "You see, my dear, I intend to use what you see around you to 'copy' your mutant ability onto myself. Oh, it won't be an exact match as far as forcing me to accept your female default form. It would be more along the lines of if you belonged to a species of shapeshifters rather than being a mutant then I will be transformed into the male equivalent of that species. Everything that your unique genetic quirk allows you to do, my dear, I soon will be able to do. Including the complete suppression of the aging process in its entirety."

_Well this is definitely one of the more inventive ways to live forever._ He thought even though he still figured that the science-magic combo would blow up in Renard's face.

"I've already perfected the process with your former compatriot Toad, Ms. Darkholme, and it worked out quite well for the mouse." Renard said as a cloth was removed from a square case to reveal a cage with a mouse bouncing around it like a frog, "However I have yet to test it on another human being so it is fortunate that Mr. Harris happened to accompany you on your mission. This way the commander of this base won't have to worry about losing one of his men to the process. Now, if you're quite done with the questions, let's get things started. K'loth, if you please?"

To these words a stereotypically robed figure with a hood obscuring his face stepped forward and began to chant as he turned each mechanical device on. The frightening part was that everywhere the man/woman/thing stepped, all the symbols within two feet of him began to glow as if activated. Definitely a little different from the way spells and rituals were usually done but at least it'd give him and Mystique some time to think of a last ditch effort to escape.

"So, Mysique? Any ideas on how we get out of this?" he asked quietly while doing his best not to attract attention to the conversation.

"None. Whatever this fuckin' erector set is, it's blocking my powers!" Raven replied sounding like she was starting to rev up for a panic attack.

That seemed to be at odds with what he knew about her but, when one factored in that she'd been able to change her form at will for over a century, then suddenly being stuck in one form couldn't be easy for her. However, unless the universe got turned on its head and arrogant fops actually did things that worked out exactly as planned, both he and Ms. Blue were going to have bigger concerns **real** soon. Looking back to the array of symbols on the floor, he could see that almost three quarters of them were now lit up like Christmas lights. Pulling against the restraints that were holding him down, he did his best to try and break free so that he could disrupt this ritual before it could begin. Sadly, whoever had prepared things had obviously done so with mutants and beings that were more than human in mind. Even with his muscles working at peak output, he wasn't even putting a strain on his restraints but he didn't give up. Even though, in the back of his mind, he knew that the struggle was futile, he was determined to go down defiant to the last breath and beyond. However, as he watched glass rise up all around him before clicking into place in the circle above him and the same happen to Mystique, he knew the end had come.

That left him with only one thing to say before the pain came.

"You're a dead man Renard!"

&

_**Location: Room of Ritual, Three Levels Below the Surface of the Base**_

_**Time: Ten Minutes After the Ritual Started**_

_**P.O.V: Mystique**_

_Someone's gonna die __**PAINFULLY**__ for this!!_ Was the first coherent thought she had as the pain her body was feeling withdrew to tolerable levels.

Whatever process Renard had cooked up had not been easy on her and, from the looks of how Xander was sagging in his restraints, the young man wasn't doing all that well either. He was still conscious and still showed an awareness of his surroundings but that was about all she could tell without talking to him. Watching as the slightly singed glass tubing retracting into its housing on the floor, she watched as Renard began to step forward from his place of safety, to inspect the results no doubt, and she the time to act was now. After all, it was a safe bet that one way or another the fop wasn't going to let her live once he got what he wanted from her and would get rid of Xander like so much laboratory refuse. However, as she tried to do a minimal change of her form, she was shown that despite the amount of energy that had arced about the tube, the inhibitors keeping her powers in check were still fully functional. Turning to Harris, she hoped that there was something improved in his state of things that might help them turn the tables on Renard. First she looked at the straps to see if there were any signs of increased wear and tear. A little fraying but there was no telling whether or not that would be enough to allow the weakened human to break free.

It was then though that a transformation began that caused the feelings of shock within her to surpass almost anything she'd experienced thus far in her long life. Almost as though she were watching a computer simulation, she watched as the young man's skin slowly turned dark blue and his hair went from brown to crimson red. Even his eyes that were partially hidden by his eyelids changed from normal human eyes to neon yellow eyes that had a slight glow to them. These were features she knew all too well from the few incidents over the decades in which she had encountered a mirror that showed her true face to her. For a moment the rest of the world went away and she was paralyzed with awe at the irrefutable fact that Renard's ritual had succeeded. Strapped to the table beside her was now a shapeshifter, a mutant, just like her and he, in all likelihood, possessed the full range of her powers. She wondered for a moment if that was all that had been copied over onto the young man and she reverently prayed that nothing else had been infused into him. Her mind held many secrets, many horrors and many other things that no one, save perhaps Irene, knew about her. If it turned out to be the case that Xander knew them now as well, she would have to kill him when the opportunity arose in order to ensure that her secrets stayed precisely that. It would cause her problems with Xavier and could lead the bald fool to throw her to the wolves, but she'd manage like she always had before. It would be far worse for her to allow someone with her secrets in his head to walk around where she couldn't keep him on a leash.

She refused to acknowledge the small part of her soul that was whispering to her that Harris could be trusted to keep her secrets.

When the world once more entered consciousness, she realized that Renard was mere steps away and would soon be within range to confirm the success of his plan. Once that was done, it could mean mere seconds before her contact from the Watcher's Council would be executed, depriving her of her sole ally in this situation. Therefore it was time to roll the dice and hope that the kid's new powers had settled themselves enough to be put to immediate use.

"Xander! Will your arm to strike Renard!" she ordered him fiercely so he would not be inclined to question her command, "Not as a fist but as a spear, a tentacle or something! Do **it NOW!**"

As though some good luck had finally come their way she watched as Xander, with no hesitation, concentrated to obey her order. The results were more than she could have hoped for but at the same time gave rise to chaos that she had not wanted. Instead of a short thrust with a bladed arm or a powerful swat that would've sent the fop to the side, Xander's right hand changed into a mace of sorts before shooting out and striking the man center mast. The strength the kid had somehow managed to put into the blow she could clearly hear the ribs crack almost to the fracturing point as Renard was propelled backwards into the hood-wearing magic user. It was when the two landed on the ground and she heard something that sounded like it was made of glass shatter that things really began to get crazy. Electric arcs of energy began to dance from symbol to symbol on the floor at an ever increasing chaotic rate that went from a minor show of energy to something quite worrying. Then, like a wave created by tidal forces, arcs of energy flowed towards both her and Xander, washing over their bodies, inducing a new bout of pain. However, unlike one might think, this wave seemed to act with a mind of its own as it seemed to turn into a loop of sorts between her and the Harris boy. For a moment she thought they might both be killed by the energy but just as soon as the thought came the energy dissipated into nothingness.

A tingling sensation she felt throughout her body though told her that the barrage had at least done some good for her.

With a smile of glee, she slipped her arms free of their restraints, confirming that the devices that had been preventing her from changing her body had been knocked offline. With her freedom restored, it was simplicity itself to escape her bonds but she knew that things would quickly turn ugly if she didn't leave. The energy arcing from symbol to symbol was leaning more and more towards the dangerous side of things rather than the pretty kind. Heading towards the door, she found herself being held back by something. It was almost as if she were leaving something important behind but that didn't make any sense at all. Looking over her shoulder, she could see that the last barrage of energy had managed to burn through one of the straps that had been holding Xander in place. What she could also see though was that the pain that she had endured prior to the inhibitors being knocked offline had been enough to rob the young man of consciousness. In all likelihood, he would perish along with Renard and the mage once the chaotic energy reached maximum. In fact, if her luck continued the way it had so far, the resulting climax of energy could very well destroy the entire military base. With all the evidence removed, she could come up with any story she wanted and Lord Xavier would have no choice but to believe it. All the problems this mission had caused her would be taken care of in one fell swoop.

So why did she feel as though she would be in a funk for the rest of the year if she didn't go back for Harris?

She growled in frustration before going back the way she came and tearing the restraints keeping Xander tied to the table off. Once freed, she slung him over her shoulder and then began to make for the door with all the speed she could possibly manage, given the weight of her current burden. Fortunately, with her recent power upgrade, she could increase her strength quite a bit more than one might think so, with a little shifting here as well as some enlarging there. Eventually it got to the point where Harris became light as a feather and she was making her way through the complex like an experienced sprinter. An explosion caused the floor to shake enough that she almost lost her footing but, fortunately, causing half a foot to grow out of her left leg kept her on her feet. Turning around, she watched with a bad feeling growing inside of her that the damage Xander had done was a bit more extensive then just destroying a room. In fact, she had an eerie feeling that now might be the time to put as much distance between them and the base as possible. As soon as the door to the elevator opened, she opened up the roof maintenance hatch and, after shoving Xander through it, pulled herself up. It was now time to pull off a move straight from Hollywood and so, with one arm around Xander, another with a firm grip on the cable attached to the roof of the elevator car and the last transformed into a basic blade, she cut through the cable. With the counterweight on one side of the cable removed, the other was free to plunge into the depths of the shaft but it also allowed her and Xander to make it to ground level fast.

_I have to time the release just right!_ She thought as her eyes spied the doors to the ground floor of the base.

Fortunately for both her and Xander, her time as an intelligence operative had honed her sense of time to a razor sharp edge so when they were almost at the door right below the one that was their target she let go of the cable and rode the momentum the rest of the way. Landing with much agility she quickly split her free arm in two and used them to pry open the elevator door just wide enough for her and her baggage to slip through. Looking around, it looked like either all the vamps and demons had been sent home or were focusing their efforts on the outside since every direction she looked in was lacking in guards. In any case she didn't have much time to waste if her prediction about the grand finale turned out to be accurate. Looking around and trying to remember the layout of the base, an idea entered her mind and she had to smile at how the odds of her and Harris had just gone up. Taking the left hallway, she carried her burden down it and right past a sign that would soon be reduced to so much ash.

Transport Garage.

&

_**Location: Xavier Safe House Outside of Cleveland, Ohio**_

_**Time: One Month After the Mission**_

_**P.O.V: Xander's P.O.V**_

"AGAIN!" Mystique ordered with all the authority of a drill instructor, "Your form was lacking detail on your leg. If you'd tried to sneak into an enemy compound like that, they'd have found you out in a second."

With a sigh, he did what had become the pattern for the last three weeks: return to his default form and then assume the appearance designated by Raven. Still, he supposed that he should be grateful that she had agreed, however reluctantly, to train him in the use of the abilities he'd gained from Renard's ritual. Even though, according to Mystique, he'd used them at least once after the ceremony, he couldn't remember that moment clearly. So it was a bit of a shock when he'd woken up in a hotel the next day to find his skin dark blue, his eyes glowy yellow and his hair blood red. As a side note, since changing one's appearance was for the most part mental, during his freak out episode he rapidly shifted through every person whose image popped into his head.

Ms. Blue had found it quite amusing.

From there they'd informed their respective groups of the outcome of the mission and, while both had been surprised at his new condition, they'd received word of how the operation had gone via the media. Apparently, according to Raven, when he'd knocked David Renard on his ass, one of the talismans the Council had been so worried about had been crushed. As a result, the remaining mystical energy used in the ritual had been mixed with the energy of the talisman and evolved into an ever growing feedback loop. Eventually it had gotten so bad that the entire base had gone up in the mother of all fireworks displays, leaving a big hole in the ground for the newshounds to find later. Once again an attempt by him to do some good wound up causing a large amount of property damage. It hadn't been all that common back in Sunnydale, just the high school, but after that, when he'd been traveling through Africa looking for newbie Slayers, property damage quickly became his calling card. It wasn't like he went into every situation looking to make things go boom but rather the sad fact that most of the regions he entered weren't exactly peaceful. Crooks and mercs of all sizes as well as numbers made their living in that country as well as a few people looking to return the place to the ways of Apartheid. As a result, munitions and weapons were hidden in some of the oddest places for use by all three kinds of people with him somehow setting them off without even realizing it. After the Council had gotten their first repair bill from owners whose buildings had been demolished, Giles had lectured him for an hour straight about being more careful. Thus, ever since, he'd done his best to keep the number of BOOM incidents to a minimum, if not eliminate them entirely. His efforts had been met with some success but he had a feeling that after the base explosion he was going to have to start all over again to win Giles' confidence back.

Once the hour and a half lecture had been concluded, the issue of what to do about his condition had been brought up. That had led to Willow 'porting in to run a few diagnostic spells on him, even though she could have waited until he'd reached a Council safe house or gotten back to Cleveland. After ten minutes of basic spells plus a few that were a little too flashy for his liking, it was the diagnosis of his bestest bud that his condition was permanent. It was not a condition being held in place by magic or by some higher power but rather genetic manipulation on a magical level of great precision. While it might be possible to undo what had been done to him down the road, she was, at the moment, not experienced enough to attempt something so difficult. Thus, with the option of returning him to normal no longer an option, all that was left was for him to learn how to use these abilities. He'd felt a bit weird about it but Mystique had pointed out, in her own unique style, that unless he wanted to go around with blue skin and red hair, he needed to learn how to hold a normal person's appearance. Thus it had been decided by both Giles and Xavier that since his new abilities were copied from Mystique, that she'd make the best instructor. Naturally Raven had tried to weasel her way out of the job since she was a black ops person at heart and instructing anyone was both stifling as well as boring for her. Sadly Xavier had played his trump card, the digital smokescreen that kept Mystique off the grid of every law enforcement agency on the planet, and the shapeshifter angrily gave in.

For the past three weeks she'd been giving him a crash course in shapeshifting 101 and making sure that he got every lesson committed to memory before moving onto the next one. When he complained, she used her own powers to toss him around until he was forced to use the lessons she had taught him to escape or stop her. If it wasn't for the fact that his new shapeshifting abilities allowed him to recover from injuries faster than a normal person, he'd be in the infirmary right now. At present she was forcing him to be able to shapeshift into the appearance of several people from either TV or from the neighborhood. She would then grade him based on appearance, movements, mannerisms and vocal accuracy. If he somehow managed to pull off a convincing enough imitation of the person in question, she'd move onto people that had more detail in their appearances. If he failed, though, then she'd either physically thrash him or verbally tear him a new one. Fortunately for him, years of doing it with Cordy and then honing it with Spike before perfecting it with Faith allowed him to give as good as he got when it came to verbal sparring.

On the physical side of things… not so good.

Bringing his mind back to the present, he prepared to shapeshift into the person Raven had designated in the way she had first instructed him. First he pictured the person in his mind using the photo or video clip that he'd been shown and then he began to filter out the elements that made this source material look fake or artificial. Then he had to picture them as though they were right in front of him and then force his body to take on the form in question. It wasn't as easy as it sounded since for amateurs like him attaining a level of focus necessary to keep the image in his head and follow all the steps wasn't easy. He was a young punk kid who'd had his attention span reduced to almost nothing thanks to TV, videogames and the local movie theatre. Nevertheless, he had a growing motivation to do his best at his and that motivation was to get rid of Mystique as soon as possible so that he could get back to doing what he wanted to do. With that in mind, he went through the process as first instructed, bringing up the image of the person in his head, and then willed his body to do as it was commanded. Opening his eyes when he felt the shifting stop (and **BOY** hadn't it felt creepy the first time he'd done it), he looked to Raven to see if he'd passed this test or failed again earning himself a thrashing.

Her expression was stoic at first. No emotion or anything that he could use to judge what her judgment was. Then her lips pressed together and he definitely took that as a bad sign since it meant that she was about to explode verbally in a way he probably wasn't going to enjoy. Things only got worse when he began to notice a slight trembling in her shoulders that was probably a sign of an inner desire to throttle him being barely restrained. However, it was when she bent over and began to clutch her stomach that he began to wonder if something a bit more serious was going on. While he didn't doubt Forge's abilities when it came to whipping up technological marvels light-years ahead of everyone else, it was still possible that someone had gotten past his digital smokescreen. Looking about with his old soldier memories as his guide, he tried to see if there was anything amiss in the immediate area that might indicate intruders on the grounds. However, no matter where he looked, everything looked just as it had this morning and the day before but that didn't necessarily mean that everything was fine. If Forge and Mystique were to be believed, then modern tech was capable of doing some pretty impressive things these days. That meant they could be surrounded by commandoes and he wouldn't be able to tell without getting some of Willow's talismans or one of Forge's gizmos.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahah!"

It was when laughter, Mystique's laughter, reached his ears though that he was enlightened as to the true reason for her strange reaction to his latest transformation.

She was laughing at him.

"Mind sharing the joke?" He asked with a little snap to his words since he thought he'd done a pretty good job.

In response, she reached out with one of her arms like Mr. Fantastic and grabbed a full length mirror that they used so he could inspect his own efforts. When she turned it to face him, his face dropped in both disappointment and disbelief at his current form since it had been awhile since he'd blundered this badly. For one thing the lips were too big, the chest area definitely was not normal and the rear end was such that he'd provided himself with some padding when he next sat down.

Needless to say he did not look one bit like one Jean Grey-Summers.

She was not that top heavy, did not have that big a butt and her lips didn't look like she'd gone to a complete idiot for a lip job.

About the only thing he'd gotten right was her uniform but even that couldn't hide the borderline double E breasts nor the inflato-butt.

_Oh well! Back to the drawing board._ He thought as he went back to his default form.

&

_**Location: Tropicana Santiago, Cuba**_

_**Time: One Year Later, Mid-Evening**_

_**P.O.V: Mystique aka Raven Darkholme**_

_I wonder what Xander's doing right now._ Mystique thought as she sipped her drink and watched the locals dance the night away.

It was a question that she'd been asking herself again and again for the past month since she'd concluded the Watcher's training in his shapeshifting powers, powers that had been copied from her onto him thanks to the late David Renard's ritual. She wouldn't say that he was as skilled as her because there were some things that only experience could teach a person. After all, most of the tricks in her playbook had been thought of on the spur of the moment or after examining how a particular operation had gone wrong. In any case, once he'd proven to the satisfaction of both Xavier and Ripper that Harris could keep his previous appearance steady when distracted, the lessons ended. She went back to being Charlie's dirty little secret and Harris went back to being a bloodhound for newbie Slayers. While he hadn't told her the details during their time together, she'd managed to get a few tidbits of info out of him using some 'stimulating' tactics. Apparently this Watchers Council was different from the one she'd encountered twenty years ago and was led by Ripper, his Slayer and the friends the two of them had gained in Sunnydale. This incarnation of the Council was more tolerant of non-human lifeforms and treated their Slayers more like the young ladies they were rather than expendable soldiers. That was another thing that had changed: once a generation had become whoever could would. No longer was their only one Slayer at a time but rather any girl who had the potential to become a Slayer now instantly received their powers once they hit puberty. In a way, it was sort of like Xavier's crew but, if Xander was any indication, they weren't as squeamish about killing things. True, Harris said that there weren't that many species of non-human that could be considered harmless or neutral, but as far as she was concerned, there were precious few humans that she didn't want to kill on general principle.

It had been an interesting time and while she would never admit it to anyone, she had actually enjoyed the young man's company. He wasn't a moralistic fool like Xavier but he wasn't a bloodthirsty killing machine like Creed was. He also made her laugh both with his not-so-successful attempts to shapeshift and just the occasional odd comment he dropped. He was odd, but it was a good odd from her point of view, and figuring out what the **HELL** he was talking about helped distract her from bothersome things. She might very well say that when they parted, she was considered suggesting to Xavier that Xander be named her handler instead of Shortpack. However, that would have been an odd request coming from her and would have made everyone suspicious so she'd just watched him go without saying a word. She still thought about him from time to time and wondered what he was doing but most of the time he was so busy doing one thing or another for Xavier, there wasn't time for anything else.

With remembrance thrumming throughout her body, she decided that instead of sitting there looking all dreamy, she should really try to enjoy her free time. After all, tomorrow she'd be heading back to her safe house in the States and then it would be another of annoying Pope Charlie's missions. Besides, if Xander was here, he'd be doing everything he could to brighten her mood or make her anything other than introspective or broody. So, with one final sip of her drink, she stepped out onto the dance floor to find some fool to wrap around her finger before tossing the idiot over her shoulder when she had finished having fun with him.

_Wish you were here, Xander._ She thought as she spotted her victim of the night.

&

_**Location: Syrian Desert, Iraq**_

_**Time: Three Years After Mystique's Mission to Cuba, Sunset**_

_**P.O.V: Xander Harris aka Mystery**_

_About time Logan left._ Xander thought as he watched through a pair of binoculars as the man known as Wolverine finally stepped outside of the effective range of his enhanced senses, _Any longer and even the stuff I brought with him wouldn't be able to pull Raven out of the mess she's gotten herself into. _

Ask anybody why he was here, in the middle in what many would consider hell on Earth, and they'd probably chalk it up to his undying White Knight complex. In a way, though, he'd admit that that was at least part of the reason why he was willing to work to save someone who many considered a remorseless killer. However they always failed to take into account two things and that is why they'd never truly understand Mystique the way he did.

The first thing they didn't understand was the toll that living for over a century had on your average person. Sure, there were those that could claim that extreme longevity was no excuse for the things Ms. Blue had done in her lifetime but those people were either hypocrites or deluded fools. Most immortals usually did one of two things on this world, the first being to stay away from normal people and the latter being to live amongst average people and moving on when circumstances forced them to. The ones that did the former generally went crazy due to the isolation or got so out of touch with modern society that they were eventually discovered. If they did the latter, the possibility of discovery went up dramatically along with the possibility of forming attachments both material as well as emotional. Both sides had their perils and both could be reason enough to consider immortality to be more of a curse than a blessing. With Mystique, though, she was able to forge a third possibility of living in the world amongst other people but without forming attachments to anything. Personally he thought that such a choice was idiotic and potentially masochistic, but it was the path Raven had chosen for herself.

That didn't mean he couldn't subtly nudge her into choosing a different course of action. After all, with the both of them being virtually immortal due to their powers, he pretty much had all the time in the world to get her to abandon her lonely road. He had made some moves prior to today but she's either shrugged them off like they were nothing or gotten pretty pissed and told him to get lost. Not that that was going to stop him from delivering more nudges because, in his opinion, she was just plain afraid to get close to anyone. She was so determined to walk that middle road between being alone and enduring the pain of seeing people or places she'd grown attached to perish, so he'd made it his personal mission to get her to, if not abandon her chosen path, at least admit that there was one person she could count on. It was this desire that caused so much friction to build up between himself and the other members of the 'save the world' league. They had all pretty much written Mystique off as a lost cause, a monstrous killer without a shred of decency, and didn't take kindly to anyone saying otherwise. Oh, they wouldn't turn on him per se, but rather they'd take every opportunity to convince him that he was wasting his time with her or drop by for a 'chat' if they thought he was helping Raven. However they didn't realize that the only kind of person who could truly reach Mystique is one who didn't think he/she was better than her.

Someone like himself.

Leaving the place from which he'd been watching the entire grudge match between Logan and Ms. Blue, he picked up the suitcase he'd brought with him. Running in the direction of Mystique, he knew he only had a certain amount of time before the woman's own enhanced healing gave out. While it was true that a person with the same set of powers that they did could recover from certain wounds and maladies quicker than normal, stack enough wounds on top of one fatal one and death was a distinct possibility. When he'd heard about Wolverine going on the hunt for Ms. Blue, he knew that one way or another the lady would need someone to patch her up afterwards. Logan was good at what he did and when all was said and done, Raven's powers were centered on her shapeshifting ability. Basically, it meant that if her body racked up enough damage then even her mutant powers would give out under the sheer strain that was being placed on them. That was where conventional healing techniques would have to pick up the slack along with someone who knew how to employ them best. He was not a certified doctor or anything but his Halloween memories combined with training that had become mandatory in the New Council made him a pretty decent military field medic. Hopefully that, combined with Raven's own healing ability, would be enough to pull her through the worst of it.

A minute later he'd reached her and she was definitely entering the first stages of significant blood loss and that meant he had to work fast.

"X-Xander? What are…what are you doing here?" Mystique asked as though her ability to speak was beginning to leave her.

"The same as always, Raven: pulling your cute blue butt out of the sorry mess it's in." he replied with his lopsided grin as he opened up the suitcase, "You know, you really should have thought that fight through a little better. Sure, you had the hardware to mess Logan up but you should've known that his healing factor was better than yours."

"You were watching the **entire** time!" Mystique growled with her anger giving her something to focus on, "Then why didn't you come down and help me?!"

"Well, for one thing, I might be a decent fighter against demons and maybe some rookie X-Men but no way was I going to last long against Logan." He replied as he began to apply special ointment to the wounds he could see, "Secondly, it'll make your recovery a lot easier if everyone thinks you're dead."

She had nothing to say to that but whether that was because she saw his point or was simply too weak to shoot his reasons down, he didn't know. Nevertheless, he sped up the pace of his efforts but also kept the quality of the work at the prescribed level so that nothing bad would happen. Needless to say it was more than a little worrying seeing the damage Wolverine had done up close since it was much nastier looking than when he'd seen it through the binoculars. He focused on the most serious of the wounds first, the ones that'd make Raven die that much quicker, before doing a quick patch job on the lesser ones. Fortunately his suitcase was filled with a few flasks and test tubes filled with potions or ingredients that Willow had whipped up for situations where Slayer healing wasn't enough. Basically it provided a temporary boost to baseline healing factors, allowing Slayers to get a full week or two of healing done in under an hour. With Mystique, he hoped it'd be enough to pull her far enough away from death's door that she'd only need a little extra recovery time in bed before she was back at one hundred percent. Once the patch job was complete, he turned back to her face to see if she had any preference as to where she wanted to be taken. Sadly the severity of her injuries coupled with the moments of pain his medical ministrations had caused had resulted in a slight case of unconsciousness. Fortunately a pulse and a quick peek with a tricorder talisman told him that she wasn't dead and that she wouldn't be dying anytime soon.

"Guess it's up to me to decide our travel plans then." He said to himself as he mentally cycled through the places he could take her without attracting the wrong kind of attention.

It took him a minute to determine the destination of least trouble but, in the end, he figured that submitting to Andrew's demands for multiple Star Trek impersonations was the best option.

_You __**SO**__ owe me for this, Mystique!_ He thought before he activated the talisman that would take both him and Raven to the Council compound Andrew ran.

&

_**Location: Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A**_

_**Time: Ten Years Later, Late Evening**_

_**P.O.V: Mystique aka Raven Darkholme**_

_I have __**definitely**__ gone insane!_ Raven thought as she looked down at the assembled Slayers and Watchers partying in the room below, _That's the only way to explain why I'm here and not pulling off some scheme to obliterate ordinary humans._

However, even as she thought the words, she knew that her days as a pro-mutant terrorist were pretty much gone. Oh, she'd still get pissed every time she heard some sanctimonious mutant hater on TV and if during the course of her current job she came across some humans beating on a mutant, she'd do something, but otherwise no. She had more important things to be worried about these days and unless something appeared that was a direct threat to those things she'd keep her violent tendencies in check.

After all, a mother must always take proper care of her baby girl, right?

Yes, that was one of the most important things in her life right now and it was currently being held in her arms while it sucked on its soother. While she was no stranger to natural childbirth, she had to say that this child was a vast improvement over Graydon and would be a worthy sister to either Rogue or Kurt. In fact, if her guess was right, those two would be visiting near the end of the week to see their little sister and 'make sure she was not up to her old tricks'. While she couldn't blame them for still being suspicious of the changes she'd undergone, she wouldn't have believed it herself ten years ago, they clearly underestimated the influence of one Alexander LaVelle Harris. Then again, so had she, but in the past ten years she had learned, much to her displeasure sometimes, that his code of honor had a nasty tendency to rub off on a person. Before she even realized what was going on, she'd found herself actually showing **mercy** to people she would have killed without a second thought before she'd met Xander. In the end, she realized that she had to walk away from the life of a mutant terrorist before her reputation went right down the drain. Fortunately the father of the child in her arms had provided an out for her that no one could question or find fault with.

That was the threat that demons represented to mutantkind because of their malicious nature and dreams of bringing hell to the Earth.

The reason she gave the mutants that came to ask her why she had changed her path was that she didn't want demons to benefit from the suffering of mutants. After all, strife and conflict between flatscans and mutants could only help demons weaken both sides in preparation for their latest apocalypse scheme. By working with the new Watcher's Council, she could help put a stop to those plans and keep certain mutants apprised of the situation in the supernatural world.

Some believed her reason.

Others didn't.

In the end, though, she decided that she didn't really care what they believed because one way or another, she had found a place that felt like a home should. It was a feeling she couldn't recall ever feeling like this in all her long life, save during a few brief moments when she and Irene were together. With her old friend Destiny, she could sometimes block out the world outside of where ever they were shacked up and pretend that all was right with the world. It had been moments like those that had seen her through so many difficult times and when her friend had died at the hands of Legion her one means of keeping the ugliness of the world bearable disappeared. From that day onward, it all began to pile up onto her shoulders making it difficult to find anything positive in the world to take comfort in. Even her feelings for Kurt and Rogue proved to be inadequate to completely dispel the darkness she had found herself being drowned in by the world. If things had continued on its present course, she had little doubt that she would have met her end sooner rather than later.

Then she met him.

From their first mission together, she'd felt as though there was something different about him, something that set him apart from flatscans, but she didn't know what it was. As time passed with him, she began to learn more about the young man by the name of Xander Harris and he became of a topic of thought that she just couldn't extinguish. This became something of a bother with the way that he way he oh-so subtly tried to convince her that her way of thinking was wrong. He had thought he was so clever with the way he managed to slip his little lessons into casual conversations in an effort to subliminally influence her. He didn't understand that she was playing head games with professionals since long before his great grandfather was born. Nevertheless, he kept trying to influence her and, eventually, she'd stopped seeing him altogether, burying herself in her agenda and what she knew of the future from Destiny's diaries. However, despite killing Sinister, despite saving Rogue from the plague that her powers had become for her, things had gotten worse rather than better. In the end, she had gotten chased halfway across the Middle East by Logan and very nearly killed if Xander hadn't shown up to help her.

He'd spent the three weeks following her fight with Logan nursing her back to health while at the same convincing (or, in some cases, bullying) the rest of the people in the building to not let on that she was there. It wasn't easy but once Xander managed to convince the top five most senior members of that branch of the Watcher's Council, things had quieted down a bit. It was during that time that he'd spent time with her, just like during his training, and she had found her old fondness for the time they spent together returning. Naturally she tried to suppress this or discredit it with her usual reasons for disliking humans but, as time passed, she eventually tried to justify her listening to him by saying that he was a mutant now and thus better than other flatscans. However it had been that period of recovery that the seeds of something more had been planted and, as the years passed, she found she had less and less enthusiasm for her usual schemes. Eventually others began to notice and she knew that she had to do something before certain people considered her soft enough to take their revenge against. It had been then that she had approached Xander for a position in the Watcher's Council, saying that she'd had a close encounter with a particularly nasty demon while on a job. While it was true that no such encounter had taken place, it was enough to base her choice to join the fight against them so as to protect mutantkind.

With her reputation, no one other than Xander wanted to partner up with her or spend more time that necessary with her for a mission. They had heard the rumblings of Rupert Giles, Willow Rosenberg and Buffy Summers about her past and used that to form their opinion of her. This had led to many difficult times and many perilous missions where she honestly thought they'd perish together. It had been the closeness that being partners brought about friendship between them and from there it had evolved into something…more. Before she knew it, his presence had such a profound effect on her that her earlier anger felt meaningless to her. It had been then that he had asked for her hand in marriage and, without any of the hesitation, she said yes and they were wed three months later. Then, less than a year ago, she gave birth to the little bundle in her arms and named her Irene Harris-Darkhome in honor of the most important things in her world. She would be turning one by the end of the week and that was why Kurt and Rogue were showing up or rather that was their primary motive, the secondary one being to check up her 'rehabilitation'.

Feeling a pair of strong hands wrap around her from behind, she momentarily prepared to kick the fool's ass before she recognized the presence behind her. Instead of resisting it, she embraced the feeling of her husband's arms around her and the feeling of safety it gave her. Smiling in a way that was genuinely happy, she turned her head and looked upon the familiar face of Xander Harris, her husband.

"So, has she quieted down now?" Xander asked with a smile as he gently stroked the cheek of his baby girl.

"Yes. It turned out she's just inherited your appetite." She replied as she watched her daughter polish off the bottle, "This is her second bottle and if the way she's guzzling it down is any hint, then might have enough room for a third."

"Well as the saying goes 'milk does a body good'." He said with a slight chuckle at the appetite of his firstborn.

"How did patrol go?" she asked wondering about where her husband had been for most of the evening.

"A few newbie vamps and a Fyarl. Nothing to worry about." Xander replied as he turned his gaze to the people below, "According to Giles, we shouldn't have anything to worry about for at least another month or two."

It was as he mentioned how slow it'd be for the next four to eight weeks that an idea popped into her head that made her grin. She wasn't sure if she was actually serious about it just yet but it was interesting enough merely for the entertainment value.

"Then perhaps we could use the time to cook up a younger brother from Irene?" she asked as though it was a perfectly normal idea, "We can name him Jesse."

The look on his face was priceless.

&

Note: I know that for some of you readers who are knowledgeable about Marvel Comics and the character Mystique that the idea that she'd ever be anything other than a sociopathic killer is an impossibility. However I am a firm believer that it's just a matter of receiving the right offer from the right person/s to guide her away from her current path. It's not going to be one of the X-team members due to the bad blood between her and them. It's not going to be a normal human. However with Xander being turned into a male shapeshifter like herself it could very well be possible.

Besides she's in perfect keeping with his usual luck with women.


	36. To Counter a Darkness: Part 1

"To Counter a Darkness" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryley[underscore]breen[at]hotmail[dot]com

(BtVS/Justice League Unlimited/Ultimate Marvel Universe)

[A Sort of YAHF]

Disclaimer: This is to state firmly and resolutely that I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. It is the sole property of the original creators and associated companies. I am make no money whatsoever with this nor do I plan to in the future. This is being written purely for my own enjoyment and what enjoyment readers might experience reading my works.

Note: I had originally wanted to do this in the Mainstream Marvel Universe rather than the Ultimate one however getting the necessary issues of the major superhero teams there (Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc) proved to be too time consuming. Therefore I decided to use the easier to obtain Ultimate Marvel Universe and was somewhat swayed by the fact that this universe had less of a complicated history to worry about making it easier on me the writer.

Note 2: I had originally planned on this being a full fledged fanfic but eventually my muse got tired of it and so I decided to just post it as another chapter of 'Dreams and Ideas'. If you like it enough vote for it and if it gets enough votes maybe I'll put it back on the full fledged fanfic shelf.

Note 3: In this universe Giles does not return to England in Tabula Rasa but rather stays to keep a closer eye on Willow's magical development. As for Xander and Anya due to things being said during Sweet's visit as well as rising doubts on both sides they've mutually agreed to take a step back to re-examine where they want to go in life and who they want to be with. I did this because I wanted to free both of them up for potential pairings in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.

_To Counter a Darkness_

_**Sunnydale, California**_

_**BtVS Universe/Reality/Dimension**_

_**Afternoon, Unknown Precise Location, Unknown P.O.V**_

He'd show them all.

He would become a **GOD!**

He was tired of being seen as a half-assed scientist and not being worth the attention of the big players in this town! All through his time growing up he'd known he was smarter than everyone else and had proven it time and time again in school by passing his tests with flying colors and submitting daring projects to his teachers. He was right up there in High School with brainiacs like Willow Rosenberg but neither his parents or anyone else for that matter gave him the respect he deserved. Oh, they gave him the nice pats on the head and the occasional trophy, but not the one thing he really felt he deserved. Power! The power to rule over others and use his superior intellect to shape the world around him! That was what he deserved but, even though he could have taught each of the classes himself, they were instead left in the hands of idiots who practically read the text book word for word each day. It galled him that he was forced by the norms and customs of society to obey his intellectual inferiors! The only people who seemed to understand his greatness were his two 'friends', though to call them that would be giving them too much credit. They were his underlings, his minions, little better than pets in his eyes and the only reason he even bothered with them was that they occasionally proved useful to him. Even now, three years after graduating from High School, they had proven to be useful to him at times. Not that he'd wanted to be stuck with them but after his moronic parents had lost a fortune in the stock markets (despite the impeccable advice he'd given them months before), he hadn't had the money to go to a reputable university. Still, in retrospect, it might have been a blessing in disguise since the professors at any place of 'higher learning' in the world would still probably be inferior to him. Over the past four years he had chosen, instead, to broaden his knowledge of the supernatural phenomena that permeated the town of Sunnydale while at the same time keeping his scientific intellect razor sharp. In the end, while his minions were somewhat more proficient in performing magic, he possessed some talent in that area himself. He, of course, made sure that even the morons he ordered around thought he was a complete inept in that area but in private he was progressing quite nicely indeed.

However it wasn't enough.

He wanted MORE!

He wanted **more** and just last week he found the key to getting all he desired while he was meeting one of the Black Magic merchants that lived in Sunnydale. Apparently the little troll had come into the possession of an ancient text that contained many dark secrets but, sadly, was considered unreadable by most due to the fact that the language it was written in being extinct. Oh, one could tell that the symbols and markings were more than just mindless gibberish or the work of a toddler. Translating the words into something that could be understood, however, was deemed impossible by the book's previous owners. Those fools must not have been aware of the latest translation software out there or the benefits of using a code breaker program to decipher the ancient volume. He'd managed to crack it yesterday and, after perusing the first few chapters, he'd found a spell that would bring him everything he desired and more. In a way it was somewhat similar to the spell that had been cast on Halloween all those years ago but infinitely more powerful and, best of all, it was a permanent change. Even if some foolish White Hats somehow found the focus of the spell, shattering it would not undo the changes the spell would make in him and so they'd have little more to do but pray that he overlooked them. Something that would be entirely possible for the faceless fools in this town but, for those that had crossed him in the past or disrespected him, there would be no mercy. He would hunt each and every one of them down and have them screaming in terror before he reduced them to bloody smears on a floor somewhere.

All he needed was to wait for forces both celestial and arcane to fall into just the right configuration and he would be ready to take the first step towards his ultimate destiny.

By using his scientific genius and moderate skill in matters arcane, he had managed to predict the time in which the ceremony would have to occur. He almost laughed out loud when he saw both the date and the time but then he supposed it was somehow appropriate for what he would become to be born in a setting like that. He had already sent the minions to pick up the necessary ingredients from the bus depot where their demonic courier would be waiting and, once they brought the materials back, the three of them would lock themselves inside the warehouse he'd acquired. This, however, was no mere run-down-used-for-a-vampire-nest warehouse, but, rather something the warlock Wilkins had once owned and, as such, was a great deal more secure. Wards, spells, talismans and conventional electric security protected this place from outsiders. There were six rooms in total with a main open area in the center, making him believe that Richard Wilkins the first, second and third had perhaps used it for the more delicate spellwork that required zero interference. How fortunate that it had been left to itself after the ascended mayor had perished and only required a little maintenance to get it back up to full strength. It was also convenient that the rooms where his cannon fodder would be doing their part of the ceremony could only be opened from the outside.

It would mean less trouble for him when things got interesting.

For now, though, he would have to prepare the altered version translation of ceremony so that his 'friends' wouldn't suspect anything when he briefed them on the different roles they'd each have. After all, he had already buttered them up with promises of gaining the powers and abilities of their favorite fictional characters, so now it was time to lock them into place by showing them the ceremony that would be used. Once that was done, they'd begin drawing the symbols on the floor and preparing the various ingredients so that all would be ready when the fated hour was upon them. He had to clamp down on his own mouth with his hand when he imagined what would happen when his scheme reached fruition so that giddy giggle wouldn't get out. After all, the future ruler of the world couldn't giggle; he could chuckle or laugh but certainly not giggle. Only girls giggled. Fortunately it was just as he was about to giggle that Igg and Ook showed up with one of the complaining about how overpriced the ingredients for the ceremony had been. He, of course, had known from the beginning that the demon merchant would jack up the price but, thanks to a bit of hacking with regards to the Sunnydale Bank, he managed to acquire more than enough money to pay the bill. Of course he fully expected the surprisingly competent S.P.D would catch on within the week and track the hacking to his computer within two weeks, but by then they would be little more than flies compared to his future self.

_I wonder if it'd be any fun to squash every last member of the Sunnydale Police Department._ He thought as he did his best to bury whatever contempt or annoyance his minions were stirring up within him.

He'd know one way or another soon enough.

* * *

_**The Magic Shop**_

_**Downtown Sunnydale, California**_

_**Early Evening, Xander's P.O.V**_

"So what's on the schedule for tonight? Vamp nest? Demonic ceremony?" Xander asked as he group known collectively as the Scooby gang assembled at the center table of the store, "Snyder's sister is coming to town?"

"Just more of the same, I'm afraid. Based on newspaper articles and Willow's accessing of the police database, there has been a rash of 'barbeque fork' killings over on Smith Street." Giles replied, dropping the print outs from said database on the table, "Most likely a nest of vampires have set up shop there."

"So we gear up and clean it out." Buffy said as though they were going to be picking up our dry cleaning, "I've got a meeting with that Child Services bitch again tomorrow and I'm going to need to be well rested if I don't want to snark her head off."

It was a sad fact that even with the skillful manipulation of the files at Child Services so as to grant Buffy custody over Dawn, there were still hoops that had to be jumped through before the pests would go away. She had most of the major ones, like employment and a place to live, no problem but it was the other matters such as providing a stable environment for someone not of age that was proving to be more difficult. Due to the nightlife in Sunnydale and the fact that Buffy was only a few years older than Dawn, those hard nosed idiots frequently acted skeptical about her ability to care for her younger sister. Also, given the aggressive nature of the eldest daughter of Joyce Summers, she didn't quite convey the I-am-so-caring-and-nurturing vibe those morons seemed to be looking for. Still they had the last big hurdle of their lives to jump over tomorrow and if they managed that it'd be, well it wouldn't be smooth sailing but it'd be considerably easier. With that in mind, he knew he'd do his best to make sure the vamp nest got taken care of as quickly as possible so the blonde Slayer could focus on what was really important.

They were all about to head to the Magic Box armory when the front door to the store opened, causing the bell hanging over it to jingle, thus getting everyone's attention.

What walked in must have been the ugliest demon he'd ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on and suddenly he wondered how many steps it was to the bathroom so he could begin throwing up. Four feet tall and wearing a trenchcoat that did nothing to disguise the horrible body beneath was a purple skinned demon that kinda looked like what a plastic Barney action figure that had been cooked on a hot plate. Thankfully Buffy, ever the first to take down demonic evil, had a sword in hand and was stepping forward to make the surprise guest a head shorter.

"Mortimer? What are you doing here?" Anya asked, sounding quite surprised at the appearance of this unknown demon.

"Oh, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by." Mortimer the Muck demon replied, sounding like he was friends with them all.

Buffy taking another step towards him with sword in hand told the monster she didn't believe him.

"Okay, okay, I heard some news from the Black Magic Market grapevine that I thought you white hats might want to hear about." Mortimer said, sounding a bit disappointed that his schtick hadn't been more effective, "Some kid in this town's gotten his hands on the Book of Madd'Os Yo and plans to use it."

"Impossible! The Book of Madd'Os Yo is written in a language so ancient not even the best linguists or experts in the world have been able to translate it properly." Giles said, instantly at attention at the mention of the foul book.

"True, and when my brother sold the damn thing to the kid he thought he was pulling a fast one on the greenhorn but then my cousin told me someone bought quite a few things from him this afternoon." Mortimer said, looking like he approved of being the center of attention, "Rare spell ingredients and ceremony components mostly. Eugene has this habit of trying to figure out what his customers are trying to do with the stuff he sells them but this kid has him stumped. Never would have thought anything of it until my cousin described the kid who bought the Book to a T. Thought you guys might want to know in case this kid actually managed to translate the thing. See ya!"

"Wait! You're leaving?!" Buffy asked, not sounding pleased at the way this guy dropped a new problem in their laps and decided to leave without their permission.

"Of course!" Mortimer replied, sounding like it'd be crazy to do anything else at the moment, "There's a reason why people have tried to translate the Book of Madd'Os Yo so many times, lady. It's 'cause the thing is said to possess some of the darkest magic's on the planet and almost every spell has the power to wipe out a continent. I'm opening a portal out of here as soon as I pack my stuff!"

With that Mortimer left the Magic Box, leaving the rest of us wondering just how much trouble had been dropped in their laps and whether or not the yearly apocalypse had come early. Judging from the way that Giles is currently looking for something to polish out of existence, it was a fairly safe bet that even if it wasn't an end of the world situation, it was still something to worry about.

"Giles? What exactly is this Book of Madd'Os Yo?" Dawn asked, looking a little spooked by her surrogate father figure acting so nervous.

"I-it's an ancient text said to have fallen from the hands of S-Satan himself when he was cast out of Heaven by the Almighty. Some say that it even contains some of the fallen angel's power and has written in its pages spells known only to angelic kind." Giles replied as he began to pace about the room as the gears in his head started whirring, "If what this… this Mortimer says is true, then we must put everything else on hold and focus out efforts on finding the person in possession of the Book as soon as possible! Even if this person fails to cast one of the spells properly, any mistake made could be potentially worse than if it'd been done correctly."

"Screwing it up is worse than getting it right?" he asked, not liking this Book one little bit, "Man! Talk about the one time when burning a book would've been a good thing!"

For a moment it looked like G-Man was going to scold him for proposing something nasty about books but he then simply nodded in agreement. With purpose in his strides, the former Watcher went behind the counter of the Magic Box and brought back the equivalent of a magic user's tackle box. It contained ingredients and talismans for all of the spells they most commonly used in their defense of the Hellmouth as well as a few oddities for emergencies. Placing the tackle box on the table, he removed a map of Sunnydale and spread it out before selecting the ingredients for one of the more powerful locator spells. While they didn't have enough information about the person who bought the Book, they could track down the ingredients that had been purchased for the ceremony. They were rare enough and gave off a magic aura that should stand out, even on the Hellmouth, so finding them shouldn't take long at all. Willow and Tara quickly moved to help while the rest of them focused on getting the stuff they'd need for dealing with a magic user. Unlike vamps or most demons, beings that could toss magic around were considerably harder to deal with because they had more tricks up their sleeves. It was pretty much the opinion of just about every Scooby that magic users were a pain in the butt to deal with but on the plus side most of them could be taken out with swift blow to the head or losing said head.

The problem was getting close enough to do it.

As he watched Giles, Willow and Tara work their mojo he had to wonder how much longer the Scooby gang would be able to hold the line against the baddies of the world. After all they just seemed to get more and more powerful every year and they came closer to being defeated each time summer rolled around. The last time that they had an apocalypse, with Glory being the big bad, it'd taken Buffy throwing herself to her second death to save the world the last time. Even then it had been a near thing. Would they be so lucky next time? He wanted to believe so but at the same time he had to accept the possibility that what they had wouldn't be enough next time. Luck only went so far and, with the villains getting tougher with every year, it would only be a matter of time before something came up and managed to beat them. What would they need to change this? He didn't know precisely but more money would be a good start, maybe some better equipment, but the odds of that happening were slim. While they might have managed to blackmail Travers and his people into putting them back on the payroll thanks to that whole mess with Glorificus last year, those stuffy Brits were still stingy when it came to requests for resources. He'd overheard more than enough conversations between them and Giles to know that a stiff drink was often required for their resident Watcher after half the phone calls. Riley and his commandoes weren't always available for back up and no one was quite ready to trust anyone else in the U.S military to be competent back up in the fight against the paranormal. With both of their alternative sources of assistance either unreliable or dragging their feet somehow, they were pretty much left with whatever individual resources they could each get on their own. Giles and Anya had their respective contacts in the supernatural community, Willow had her hacking abilities and the rest of them were pretty good at pumping info out of the local demons. A trip to Willy's here, a visit to Shark's there, and they could usually sweep together enough info to save the day. For now, though, they'd have to make due with what they had to find whatever idiot thought Satan's cookbook made for good reading.

"The trail leads to the warehouse district, specifically those warehouses once owned by the deceased Mayor Wilkins, but I cannot pinpoint which warehouse specifically." Giles stated as the ashes used in the spell piled up onto a specific part of the warehouse district, "There are powerful wards and spells in place throughout that section making any precision impossible. Perhaps if we move closer, I might be able to discern which one."

"Then let's get going." Buffy said as she tested the weight of a mace from the weapons locker.

With those words they went off into a situation they knew only a little about to do what they always did when something bad was afoot.

They left to make a difference.

* * *

_**Warehouse District, The Warehouse Formerly Belonging to Mayor Richard Wilkins the Third**_

_**Ten Minutes Later, P.O.V of "The Kid"**_

"So are you two clear on what you have to do?" he asked his two minions as he checked to make sure his outfit was securely in place along with everything else he'd be needing.

"Yep! This is going to be SO cool!" replied Minion One, looking like he was hopped up on twenty cups of coffee, "We're going to be, like, GODS!"

"Maybe but we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves." Minion Two said, sounding a little concerned, "Just because we're getting a power boost doesn't mean we're undefeatable. It's a classic super villain mistake: get new powers, think you're unstoppable and then get your ass handed to you because you didn't think far enough ahead."

"Jonathan's right, Andrew. Even once the transformation is complete, we need to keep a low profile until we can think up a real plan to cash in on our new abilities." He said, looking at his two pieces of cannon fodder, "Now it's almost time to begin the ceremony. Get into your chambers and look over the chants I gave you. We can't afford to mess up on a single word if we want this to work right."

With that they moved into their individual chambers but, unlike the ones Andrew and Jonathan were getting into, he'd made sure to disable the locks on the chamber as well as the other things meant to keep the doors closed in this building. Not that he'd really need to worry about being trapped once the changes in his body were complete, but if those two nitwits messed up the ceremony he wasn't going to stick around when the shit started to hit the fan. Still, he'd drilled their lines into them mercilessly since he'd looked through the volume and even convinced them that the words had to be spoken in the original language. Oh, they'd complained about how hard it was but fooling them with some big words as well as a complicated explanation of his decryption program silenced their resistance ceased. Each of them might have certain skills that they excelled at but reading between the lines wasn't one of them. Closing his door, he took his place in the center of the arcane circle, one of three arranged in triangle formation, and watched the clock installed inside the room for the predestined time.

Fortunately it didn't take long for that time to arrive.

He wasn't exactly the most patient person on Earth.

Holding the Book of Madd'Os Yo, he began to speak the words that would bring him to his destiny and, thanks to a side effect of the spell, he could hear his minions playing their roles perfectly. He was even slightly impressed that they were pronouncing the words perfectly even though the language written in the Book hadn't been spoken in thousands of years. His work with them was bearing truly juicy fruit but he supposed that anyone learning under his mentorship would inevitably learn what he taught them. Now, though, was not the time for back patting when there were more pressing matters at hand that required his undivided attention. Pooling all his efforts, the entire range of his attention and power, into performing the ceremony perfectly without any flaws that might ruin things for him. It was a difficult thing to do, the strain was mounting, but it could not hope to match the determination he possessed to see this venture succeed. The power of the human spirit, its unbreakable will, was more than a match for the forces trying to tear him apart from the inside out.

Besides which, he had an ace to escape the 'cost' this spell had.

It was an ironclad rule of magic that there was always a price to be paid, usually it was proportional to the benefits one reaped from the spell, and this ceremony was no exception. Fortunately he'd found a loophole in the layout of the whole thing that would allow him to escape scot free and, thanks to those two fools, it was almost time to use that loophole. As the spell reached its crescendo and the need for chanting ended, he picked up a vial from the floor and smashed it against the ground, shattering and thus spreading the contents far across the floor. It took only few seconds but, when the coloring of the markings on the floor changed from blue to red, he knew that his little loophole had activated. He didn't need to wait long to see the results since, two seconds after the light given off by the floor symbols changed, he heard the first sign of weakness in the voices of Andrew and Jonathan as they finished their own chanting. At the same time he could feel the strain on him getting weaker, all but confirming that his 'get out of paying' plan was working wonderfully. He wondered how long they'd last before realizing that something had gone seriously wrong with the entire ceremony.

"W-W-Warren? I-I think…I think something's wrong…" Andrew said, sounding like it was taking considerable effort to speak, "I'm…I'm getting weaker…instead of…s-stronger…"

"Don't worry. Everything is proceeding just like the spell book said it would." He said as reassuringly as he could even if there was no point to it, "Just relax and it'll all be over with soon."

_Over for you two, that is!_ He thought maliciously as he reveled in how **trusting** those two were.

If his guess was right, they'd last only another minute, two at the most, before dying from their life energy being drained dry so that the cost of the ceremony would paid in full. It was then, though, that something happened that he hadn't predicted: the pain came. Without warning his body began to change, bones grew and flesh twisted, and, since he didn't have the benefit of an anesthetic in his bloodstream, he felt every agonizing moment of it. So great was the pain of change that he didn't even notice the screams of Andrew or Jonathan as they finally realized that they had been betrayed by one they had considered a friend. Not that he likely would have felt anything even if he had heard anything because, as far as he was concerned, those two were merely tools for his own ambitions. If they perished, so be it. There were hundreds of other saps out there he could manipulate into serving him. At the moment, all that concerned him was enduring the pain of transformation and ensuring that the precautions he took did what he had been told they would. When he felt the hatred for all life, the desire to kill, begin to well up within him, he forced a single word out of his lips to seal away those unwanted additions to his mind.

"Humo." He said and, like clockwork, the talisman he'd concealed beneath the muscle suit he'd worn as part of his costume activated.

He would have sighed with relief when the bloodlust receded from his mind but the pain was so great that his single utterance proved to be the limit of what he could do without breaking his concentration. However, this proved to be a bit of a problem since that and his lack of knowledge of his surroundings at the moment would have informed him of the crackles of energy dancing on the floor symbols. Had he been able to see and comprehend this, he could have instantly recognized the signs of conflict between two opposing spells. Since this was not the case, though, the conflict was allowed to continue until critical levels were reached forcing the warring energy to go somewhere.

In this case it chose to go straight up.

With force equal to three dump trucks filled to the brim with TNT, the roof was blown clear off the warehouse and gave off a light show not seen on any night other than the Fourth of July. He didn't care, though, because the pain was finally leaving his new body leaving only the unbridled power of the being he had chosen to dress up as. It was more than he could have imagined! It was the power to crush all in his path! It was the power to inspire sheer terror in all who looked upon him! He had to take his newfound godhood for a test run, so he pulled back his right fist and then, with only what he judged to be a quarter of his newfound power, slammed his bone spiked knuckles into the door of his chamber that had miraculously survived the blast. Almost instantly the door flew off its hinges, shattered the front of the warehouse and continued on for several blocks if what he heard was accurate.

_AMAZING! I knew he was strong but to experience it firsthand…this world __**is MINE!**_He thought with a smile that soon gave rise to malicious laughter, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

_**One Minute Earlier, The Warehouse District of Sunnydale, Xander's P.O.V**_

"Any luck pinning down the right one?" he asked as the group continued to walk up and down the rows of warehouses looking for anything suspicious.

"No. Even though it's been years since Mayor Wilkins died, the mystic defenses on his warehouse holdings are still quite potent indeed." Giles replied with some frustration as he continued to use a tracking spell with much less range to search for the right structure, "I am still picking up signs of the ingredients but I am afraid that we'll literally need to be right next to it in order to know which one is the right one."

"Great! If that place has even the cheapest security cameras installed they'll know we're there within seconds." He muttered, not liking the fact that they were so limited in their options.

"Perhaps. However if the spells and rituals inside the Book are as impressive as legends imply, then it is highly likely whoever has it will require every ounce of concentration they possess to do what they want," Giles said, obviously hearing the words of the young man. "Depending on how many are involved, it is entirely possible that they will not realize we are there until we choose to let them know."

With those words they searched but did not have to do so for very long since the roof of a warehouse three buildings down and one to the right got sent to Pluto. The light show was something else, too, but he'd learned that pretty usually meant powerful or seriously tricky and, in either case, it meant that they'd need to be careful. Careful, though, went out the window ten seconds later when something metal obliterated the warehouse in front of them and continued on for what sounded like two more before stopping. Walking forward to get a better look at what almost flattened them, he got one helluva scary eyeful when he identified the destructive object as being a thick steel door.

By thick, of course, he meant it could be used as a vault door for Fort Knox.

Worse yet, there was a **large** hand sized dent in the center that looked disturbingly familiar for some reason. However, when his mind provided him the most likely possibility, he immediately rejected it because there was no way that his luck was **this** bad. Then again his thoughts earlier might have tipped off Mr. Murphy and caused him to set this whole thing up for the Scoobies. If that was the case, he'd have to start watching what he thought from there on out or else he'd wind up making things worse. The echoing, sinister, laughing that soon rang throughout the area, though, made him wonder if it was too little too late. It wasn't that he hadn't heard maniacal laughter beforehand, hanging with this crowd it was pretty much a weekly occurrence, but this one had a feeling to it that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Deciding to see what it was, he looked in the other direction, the direction the vault door had come from, and what he saw exited the dust in the air almost made him lose control of his bladder. Instead he immediately ran back to the others and almost frantically began trying to tell them what he saw but the looks of confusion on some of their faces while Willow had a shocked one on hers he was babbling. That was something that usually only Willow did. Thus he forced himself to came down mentally and employed a few deep breaths to try to calm down even further. It was hard considering what he'd seen a few seconds ago but he knew it'd save time if the others didn't have to decipher his babbling.

And time was something they were quickly running out of.

"Look! We gotta get outta here and **FAST**!" he exclaimed looking back to where **it** hopefully still was, "I just saw what knocked that door through three buildings and we are **completely** out of our league!"

"Xander! What did you see? What did that?!" Buffy asked, sounding like seeing her friend so terrified was beginning to make her afraid as well.

"In a word Buff': Doomsday." He replied figuring that that one word pretty much summed everything up nicely.

"Do you mean some sort of apocalypse demon? What did it look like?" Giles asked no doubt eager for info to feed his fact filled mind.

"I don't think it's a demon G-Man. Not unless the people at DC comics have been using occult books to decide on a look for their baddies." He said, sparing a quick glance at his friend before looking back at where the ultimate destroyer was hopefully still standing.

Some of them rolled their eyes at the comic book reference but thankfully Willow, the Willmeister, was quickly able to put the pieces together and it was almost enough to make her faint dead away. Instead it just caused her legs to give out, causing her to slump to the ground, startling everyone, and causing Tara to rush to her side. The McClay girl tried to get her girlfriend to tell her what the problem was but the fear her friend was experiencing was such that all the blonde got was one sentence repeated over and over again.

"We're dead."

"Xander! What the hell's going on!?!" Buffy asked angrily, not liking how friends who'd stopped five apocalypses with her so far were falling apart because of something she hadn't even taken a swing at so far.

"Simply put, Buff, someone has either summoned or turned into a comic book baddie named Doomsday and right about now I'm thinking of checking to see when the next shuttle off planet is scheduled to go up." He replied, motioning with his hands for them to keep their voices to a whisper, "This is the guy that **KILLED** Superman! SUPERMAN!"

"Bloody hell!" Giles gasped as the older man considered the possibilities, "M-m-maybe it's some sort of illusion? Something that makes one see something that person believes is impossible to defeat?"

"Not unless there's an illusion that can punch a vault door off its hinges and through several buildings." He replied, shaking his head in the negative at the Watcher's hypothesis, "I think this is the real deal and even if this guy only has a tenth of the power that Doomsday had in the comics, then we won't even be able to scratch him."

"Won't know until we try." Buffy said as she took her mace of the leather belt she'd hooked it on.

"NO! Not a chance! I don't care if I have to knock you out cold Buffy." He said getting in front of her and preparing to do whatever it took to stop her from throwing her life away, "You're **not** going after that thing! It's a self-evolving killing machine that can take hits capable of shattering concrete and tears apart titanium like it was made of tissue paper! Your mace won't even get its attention."

"T-then what're we s-supposed to do?" Tara asked her own concern about the situation beginning to bring her stuttering issue back.

"I dunno. A banishing spell or something maybe?" he asked since that was the only thing he could think of that might not require that they get within arms reach of the engine of destruction.

"I-it'd have to be something long distance." Willow said as she gradually got a hold of herself and calmed down enough to think, "Something we wouldn't need to be close enough to be seen doing in order for it to work."

"We…um…we would need to affix something to…to its person to act as a focus for the spell." Giles said as he tried to think despite the fear inspiring situation they were in, "We'll need to get back to the Magic Box in order to prepare."

With those words, though, they saw that they'd have something of a ticking clock to work with because with awesome power Doomsday leapt deeper into town. It took less than ten seconds for the explosions to start and even from the warehouse district he could hear the screams of the people of Sunnydale as chaos filled the streets. Looking to the others, none of them needed to say a word before they all ran for their respective vehicles before driving off for the Magic Box, breaking the speed limit by a **LARGE** margin.

* * *

_**Downtown Sunnydale, Main Street, Thirty Minutes Later, Warren 'Doomsday' Mears' P.O.V**_

"THIS IS GREAT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T DO THIS SOONER!!" Warren yelled as bullets by the dozen hit him only to fall to the ground flat as pennies.

Indeed he was getting downright drunk on his newfound power and was compelled to pit it against anything he set his eyes on. He'd already demolished a building and tossed a few cars around like they were nothing all the while being attacked by the local P.D. They threw everything they had at him, from common bullets to tear gas, but all it did was annoy him enough to toss a car at them. They were still trying, no doubt believing that there was nothing they couldn't beat, but he was beginning to get bored with their efforts. With his new form he couldn't even feel the bullets hitting his skin and gas barely registered with him. He wanted something more interesting than the local beat cops. He wanted something that could truly show him how powerful he'd become and perhaps give him some small miniscule amount of trouble. That wouldn't happen locally, though, but still he might decide to at least pay a visit to the local White Hats to see what they could bring to bear. The self-proclaimed Scooby gang had made quite the reputation for themselves among the demonic and magical of Sunnydale, with only the most arrogant, stupid or powerful dismissing them as a threat. He didn't think that they'd be able to cause him any serious trouble but, seeing as how they were the real force behind keeping the people of this pathetic town in one piece, he thought they might be able to put up a better fight than these badge-wearing boneheads.

Not much better but enough to persuade him to stay in Sunnydale awhile longer.

He was about to leap to the part of town where their little club house was when he heard a splat sound suspiciously close to him and a smell that could only mean that something was most likely on his person. Reaching behind him he felt around, trying to find whatever it was that someone had thrown at him and if he came back with a hand covered in dog shit or something, whoever threw it was dead. After a minute or two of trying to reach a certain spot on his back, he eventually decided that he'd just use one of the still intact storefront windows to see just what he'd been splattered with. It took a little bit of maneuvering but eventually he managed to get the right angle to see a goop covered amulet stuck in just the right spot to prevent him from reaching it himself. He chuckled at this sight since he knew that either it meant that he wouldn't have to go looking for the Scooby gang or at someone mystically inclined was looking to stop his little bit of fun. Either way he'd get some better competition and a more suitable adversary with which to explore his powers. Turning in the direction he believed the amulet had come from, he looked for the one responsible but whoever had done it had quickly concealed themselves amongst the destroyed buildings. No matter, though, because he knew just how to flush them out into the open. Grabbing a car that had somehow missed being thrown by him, he threw it at the buildings on the right before tossing a large chunk of concrete at the other side. He had thought, perhaps, that he'd need to keep this up for a little while longer but, after his concrete connected with the side of a building on the left side of the street, he heard the tell tale sound of someone yelping with fright as they dove clear of any falling debris. Running forward, leaving footprints in the concrete as he went, he reached the alleyway where he'd heard the startled sounds and found that Christmas had come twice in less than two hours. Lying on the ground, a little banged up by the falling debris, was none other than Buffy Summers and Xander Harris with what looked like a paintball gun nearby.

"Resourceful, Summers, but then you and your 'Scooby gang' always did have a knack for making the most of what you had." He said as he casually walked up to them casually.

"Um…thanks…um…who are you again?" Xander asked, sounding both worried and a little confused.

"Why, I'm shocked! Don't you recognize your fellow classmate Warren Mears?" he said with false hurt in his voice as he stopped less than five feet from them, "We had history class together. Though I suppose that I shouldn't be too surprised you don't recognize me what with my new look and all. What do you think? Does it suit me?"

"Ah…yeah. You look great. All spiky and… stuff." Xander said, obviously looking for the most inoffensive words possible.

Smart.

"True, it's not exactly handsome but then power has an appeal all its own. Besides, with power you can get just about anything you could want, even if you have to take it by force." He said, carelessly admitting one of the shortcomings of taking on Doomsday's appearance, "So I guess I have you to thank for that little amulet stuck to my back? I suppose it's a focusing mechanism for a spell. So, what does it do?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Summer said, getting up from the ground though it was clear she was protecting her left arm.

The Slayer's prediction turned out to be accurate since he could feel energy from a spell spill forth from the amulet on his back. No doubt the real fun would begin once the energy finished encasing his entire body but, sadly, that would never happen since he'd anticipated something like this happening. His counter measure took effect five seconds later when a pulse of counter energy erupted from a jewel he'd had beneath the muscle suit prior to the transformation. He'd known from the start that someone would get wind of what he was up to or guess where he'd gotten his new look from and made certain that he had an appropriate counter measure in place. Specifically, it was a jewel with the ability to protect its wearer from any and all outside attempts at sorcery no matter what variety it turned out to be. While there had been some concern that it would interfere with the ceremony, he'd learned that it only acted upon sorcery that the wearer was unwilling to receive. In the case of the ceremony, he'd been all too willing to receive its effects but once that was done he'd made sure that he was unwilling to be affected by magic not related to the ceremony. It had its limits, of course, like if a spell directed at him was more powerful than it, but the only spells that powerful required no less than six spellcasters of considerable power. To his knowledge there were only three spellcasters amongst the members of the Scooby gang with only two of them being worth writing home about. That meant that even if they cast the most powerful spells they were capable of, either separately or combined, it would easily be neutralized by the jewel. When the energy from their little spell finally faded away, the looks on their faces was priceless and he took all the time he could to savor the moment.

"Um Buff'? Why isn't he going bye-bye?" Xander asked, sounding like he was barely keeping his composure.

"That, Harris, would have to do with the jewel I have implanted in my body." He replied in place of the blonde Slayer, "I knew you white hats would try to take away my 'upgrade' somehow, so I took some precautions."

"Crap!" Harris muttered, obviously having a good idea what kind of trouble him and his blonde friend were in.

"Oh, don't worry, Harris." He said as dismissively to disperse whatever images were in the young man's head, "I won't harm a hair on your head, or the Slayer's for that matter. Killing you'd be far too easy. I think instead I'll let you live so you can watch me stomp every major power on this planet. Watch and live with the fact that you can't do a damn thing to stop me. See ya!"

With that he leapt into the air, crossing miles with ease, and after his first landing he decided that the best place to make his big debut would be in a famous city.

He chose San Francisco.

* * *

_**Sunnydale, The Magic Box, Twelve Minutes Later, Buffy's P.O.V**_

"So what're we going to do?" she asked as she flexed her left arm, only feeling a little twinge of pain as a result.

Unlike what she'd first suspected, the arm wasn't broken, just severely bruised, but it'd still hurt like a bitch and if she'd had to throw down against Warren back in the alley, she would have been at a major disadvantage. Hell, if she'd been in top form she likely would have been at a tremendous disadvantage. She hadn't wanted to believe Xander and Willow when they'd described how powerful this 'Doomsday' thing was but, after seeing the devastation in downtown Sunnydale, she'd have been stupid not to rethink things. Obviously Warren now had insane strength and durability, making swords and maces useless, but that also meant that she'd be useless when it came to stop him. She might not have been one of the big brains of the group but even she could see how desperate the situation was and how hopeless stopping Warrens-day (as she was calling him) was at the moment. He was stronger than any of them. He was more durable than any of them. He had made himself immune to magic and adapted at frightening speeds to anything that could hurt him, rendering those methods useless. Warren was right; there wasn't a damn thing they could do to stop him. This above all else bothered her. While she might have cursed her Calling, she had been comforted by the fact that her Slayer powers gave her the tools to keep her friends and loved ones safe from the dangers of Sunnydale. She took solace in the fact that as long as they all worked together, they could overcome any baddie that decided to rock the boat with its latest 'take over the world' scheme. Even with this cloud of half depression that had been smothering her mind ever since Willow and the others ripped her out of Heaven, she had been certain that together they could come out on top through teamwork. Now, though, it looked like the best they could do was just sit there and hope that someone else managed to figure out a way to beat the monster from DC land.

"I don't know. He's impervious to physical force and adapts to every weapon that actually stands a chance of hurting him," Xander replied, calling upon his comic book knowledge. "He can be killed but only temporarily since he will resurrect himself sooner or later and be immune to whatever killed him. The only way the good guys were able to beat him in the comics was by trapping him in situations where his adaptive physiology wouldn't do him any good."

"Such as?" Giles asked, no doubt hoping that they could use the answer to his question to their advantage somehow.

"Don't get your hopes up, G-Man, 'cause unless you have a machine that can send him to the end of time or four teleporters we can use to lock him into a state of one quarter materialization, we're screwed." Xander said, popping the Watcher's bubble before he could get to optimistic, "Right now I'm seriously flashing back to the whole 'find the nearest portal off this rock' option because, unless Uncle Sam's been holding out on us, this world's going to be a pile of rubble soon."

"I'm afraid it's worse than that, Harris." Came an unfamiliar voice from the far side of the Magic Box.

Turning in that direction she saw the one demon she could honestly say she'd take her time tearing apart so she could enjoy every minute of it: Whistler. Moving over to him in the blink of an eye, she grabbed him by the front of his jacket and slammed him up against the wall. She didn't go full strength on the off chance that the toady for the Pricks That Be had something worthwhile to tell them but if he didn't say something **wonderful,** she'd make good on her earlier threat about making a rib cage hat.

"Explain." She said figuring that that one word pretty much made it clear what sort of mood she was in.

"Broken down simple-like, when yer friends brought you back from the dead they upset the balance." Whistler said uneasily, looking at the most serious threats to his continued survival, "Life's only supposed to go one way and when you guys messed with that, you set things up for evil to add something new to the game to balance things out. The thing is we didn't think that the scales'd be balanced with that Mears kid gettin' his hands on the Book of Madd'Os Yo or turning himself into Doomsday. That damned thing is written in the original language of Heaven itself and no one on Earth, save those with wings, should've been able to make heads or tails of it, complex decryption program or not."

"Mears? Are you talking about Warren?" Willow asked, not liking where her train of thought was taking her.

"Yep. One third of the nerd patrol has just gotten hisself one helluva power upgrade." Whistler replied, trying to make light of the situation and only getting glared at for his trouble, "Look the higher ups didn't see this coming. They'd figured that the black hats would try something like wiping out the Slayer line or the Watchers. Like I said, the Book was supposed to be completely unreadable to anyone not wearing a halo over their heads and everyone thought the nerds would be small timers at best on the side of badness. Best we can figure one of the old timers from way back musta somehow slid that Warren kid some help under the table."

"Gotta **love** the way the so-called higher powers stay on top of things!" Xander muttered just loud enough for the balance demon to hear him.

"HEY! I don't think you guys wanna be pointing fingers. Ya ain't exactly got a spotless record yerselves!" Whistler snapped back, obviously not enjoying being talked to like that by mortals, "How many times has Summers let her obsession with a normal life nearly screw the world over? How many spells has Red toyed with that nearly went pear shaped? The Powers That Be might not be what you think they ought to be but they're millennia ahead of you in terms of experience and knowledge. Think about that before you go off talkin' like you could do a better job than them."

This pretty much had everyone in the room speechless for a minute or two, mostly because the cryptic types weren't usually prone to losing their tempers so quickly. She personally was so surprised because, unlike the smart mouthed, arrogant messenger boy she'd run into during the whole Acathla mess, this one actually seemed to be rather upset about something. Gone were the witty remarks and coldhearted divulging of a torment to come. It still didn't make her like the PTBs or Whistler but at the very least she could hear him out and then decide if she wanted to rip out his rib cage and wear it as a hat. It didn't take the balance demon long to realize that they were going to let him say his peace before continuing on with their trash talking.

"Look, whatever you might think of me or my bosses upstairs, they really do try to do what's in the best interests of the dimension as a whole." Whistler said, trying to reign in some of his own anger, "They just live by the whole 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one' a little too much sometimes. In this case, though, it's a case of choosing between the lesser of two lousy outcomes. Ya see the way the higher ups have figured things're gonna play out one of two ways and neither of them are gonna be to your liking.

"Option One: we marshal what forces of good are planetside and try to bring down Mears. It could work but there'd be one helluva body count before it all came to an end." Whistler said before quickly shutting up in light of the looks he was getting from everyone, "Right. Not going to happen. Then comes option two: I can give you guys the power you need to throw down against Doomsday but, win or lose, the higher ups are gonna have to kinda kick you all out of this reality immediately afterward to keep the Black Hats from bringing in more of their own to balance things out."

"WHAT THE FUCK!?!" everyone, including herself, bellowed at the idea of being kicked out of the only reality they'd ever known just because some higher ups screwed up.

"I know! I know! I don't like it much either, you guys were my favorite group of champions, but the Powers That Be won't budge on that part." He said, trying to keep their rising hostility away from his location, "Think it through: you guys bring back Buffy here, the balance gets thrown out of whack, the black hats arrange for Warren to turn into bone-boy, the balance is restored and then you guys get powered up to beat him throwing things back out of balance. In order to make sure everything evens out again you guys need to be removed from play. You should be thankful that they don't wipe you completely from the pages of existence."

"HOW THE HELL IS ALLOWING THEM TO BRING DOOMSDAY HERE **BALANCING** THINGS OUT!?!" Xander rhetorically roared, looking like he might beat her to the punch in terms of kicking Whistler's ass. "HOW DOES BRINGING BACK **ONE** SLAYER EQUAL A KILLING MACHINE LIKE **DOOMSDAY!?!**"

"I believe I can answer that, Xander." Giles said surprising everyone both with his non-Ripper voice and replying to the question in general, "Contrary to popular belief, the balance does not work on a one-to-one basis especially with regards to sentient beings. In Buffy's case, the counterweight given to the forces of evil would need to be equal to the number of lives she will save in the future that would otherwise have been lost had she remained deceased. Considering the number of times we prevent the world from going to hell or thwart the schemes of unspeakably evil beings it is not surprising that something of this Doomsday's power would be permitted to appear to even out the balance of the universe."

She was speechless.

To hear from some pain in the ass messenger from the Pricks That Be was one thing, something she could safely argue or ignore, but to hear her Watcher support the balance demon's statements made it all a little more real. Due to the efforts of her friends to bring her back from the land of the dead (something she was still trying to cope with), there was now a force for darkness running around that had both Willow and Xander seriously wigging out. Talk about adding insult to injury! She'd been having trouble enough dealing with the harshness of life that had been nonexistent in the place where she'd been and now she had to deal with THIS! She might not know her Captain Batman from her Super Cyclops but she knew enough about the comics Xander usual read that being capable of massive property damage and destruction were usually a given when it came to super villains. Add to that the reactions that her two friends upon learning what had been magicked up by that Book of Maddest Yo and she didn't need Giles to tell her that things were about as bad as they possibly could be. The question now was what to do to make things right without dancing to Pricks That Be's tune.

"If me coming back to life caused this, will my death undo it all?" she asked Whistler seriously while ignoring the exclaimed protests of her friends.

"'Fraid it's not that simple, Slayer." Whistler replied, sounding genuinely sorry about the situation, "The imbalance was caused months ago. If it'd just happened a day or two ago we might be able to go that route but, with things already set in place, killing you again would just be a waste of time."

"Then what about just empowering me to take down this Doomsday?" she asked determined to avoid dragging her friends with her when the PTBs Federal Expressed her to another reality, "That way when I take down this baddie the others can stay here."

"Not happening, Buffy'." Xander said putting his foot down immediately, "No one person in the entire DC universe was strong enough to take down Doomsday one-on-one. Even Superman, the strongest hero **EVER**, couldn't bring Doomsday down on his first try without sacrificing himself in the process. No **way in HELL** am I gonna let you face that monster alone, especially since it seems to have a brain now to go with the brawn."

"Neither am I." Willow said, taking a stand with her best guy friend who wasn't a boyfriend, "If bringing you back to life caused this mess, then I'm mostly to blame for it happening in the first place. That means it's my duty to try and fix things anyway I can."

"Where Willow goes, I go." Tara said, joining the growing crowd of people opposing her smart plan, "Besides, maybe this new reality they send us to will be nice."

"It's got its perks, I can guarantee ya that," Whistler said although she could tell he was holding something back. "Truth is it's not all that different from here really. A few quirks but nothing you can't handle."

"While I am no more amused by this situation than you are, Buffy, I will nevertheless stand by your side, no matter the consequences." Giles said, causing a warm feeling to blossom inside of her as she watched all of her friends show how much they cared about her.

"Fine. Just don't come crying to me if you don't like where we wind up." She said turning to Whistler to get the show on the road, "We'll take option two Whistler. So how's this supposed to go?"

"It's supposed to go like this." Whistler said before snapping his fingers, causing seven glowing spheres to appear hovering in mid-air, "Each sphere contains a spell that'll empower you with what you'll need to take down Warren 'Doomsday' Mears, including the know how when it comes to any new abilities you'll wind up gaining. Before ya ask, though, you don't get to choose which sphere you get. Each one's been paired to best match yer own individual personalities and talents."

With those words the sphere's floated over towards them with each one coming to a stop in front of its designated Scooby. Her sphere was an orangish-red in color and, while she didn't know what that meant for the power up she'd get, she gave Whistler a glare that made it clear that he'd be feeling the repercussions if it turned out to be something ugly.

"So what do we do with them? Say hocus pocus or something?" Willow asked, showing her untamable passion for knowledge.

"Just take the sphere in your hand and say 'release' and it'll do its thing." Whistler replied while sneakily inching away from them.

_It doesn't matter if he tries to bail._ She thought as she took the orange sphere in her hand, _If this power up is supposed to help me take down this Doomsday thing, then it'll be more than enough to string him up by his bits if I don't like what I wind up as._

"Release!" she declared and no more than a second after the word left her mouth the orb exploded with colored energy bombarding everything about her as it did its work.

While not exactly painful like she expected the sheer overwhelming nature of it all was messing with her head like one of those carnival rides designed to make you want to toss your cookies. Amidst it all it was impossible for her to tell if anything big was happening to her or if it was something sneaky but one thing was for certain.

When the room stopped spinning and her stomach settled down she was going to make somebody pay for her suffering!


	37. To Counter A Darkness: Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever

* * *

_**Ten Minutes Later, The Magic Box, Sunnydale, California, Xander's P.O.V**_

"Uuuhhhhh! Someone tell the operator to stop 'cause I wanna get off." He said as he pushed himself off the floor into a sitting position.

As his thoughts settled and the barf inducing feelings wore off, thoughts and memories began to enter his mind that **definitely** did not belong there. It wasn't so much the idea that there was someone else inside his head but more like everything that someone else was had been annexed onto his own consciousness, allowing him to access one or the other depending on what he desired. What was more interesting, though, was the nature of the memories, mannerisms and thought patterns that he now had access to that had not been there before. He now knew how to run a Kansas farm, he knew things equivalent to someone who had graduated from university with all As, he knew how to be a top notch newspaper reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper and he knew how to wield godlike powers yet remain a man at heart. He knew it all and, in an instant, he knew what the orb Whistler had assigned to him had done. Opening his eyes, he looked down to see that he had changed in more ways than he had originally thought when he'd been told that he'd be getting a power up to take down Doomsday. Gone were his usual jeans, T-shirt and Hawaii shirt (dammit, that had been his favorite one!) and in its place was a dark blue bodysuit, red knee high boots, a yellow utility belt of some kind, red gloves, a partial face mask and a red cape. The other way he had changed is that he could tell that his legs, arms and chest were distinctly more toned and muscled than he could ever recall them being when he looked in the bathroom mirror.

_You look very sexy, Xander!_ Anya's voice told him as he got to his feet as a desire to find a mirror rose inside of him. _I'd take you to the nearest bed to see you naked if we weren't about to fight a horrible monster._

"Ahn! What've I said about saying… things, huh?!" he said as he realized that what his estranged fiancé had just said had been done in his head rather than out loud.

Looking around, he was stunned to find that he wasn't the only one who had been given a make over by the spheres but the most telling one was the one done to his ex. Sitting with legs crossed about a foot off the ground, with green skin, yellow eyes and an outfit that looked like a cross between what the Martian Manhunter wore and a Sailor Senshi outfit, was one Anya Jenkins looking quite happy with the changes. In fact she looked more beautiful than he remembered though he was pretty sure that her legs were longer and more toned, her figure had definitely been enhanced to supermodel levels and her chest had undergone a size increase as well. Looking at her, he mentally asked her whether this was the result of the sphere she'd been assigned or simply the use of the Martian's shapeshifting ability.

"Actually I did it myself. Much cheaper than going to a plastic surgeon and being able to shapeshift will save me a fortune once we get to where ever the Powers send us." Anya said out loud this time as she used those same shape changing abilities to transform to her usual human appearance.

_Leave it to Ahn to take a life altering situation like this and turn it into something involving money._ He thought with a shake of his head as he got to his feet and took in the area around him.

"Oh for cryin' out loud!" he exclaimed as he took in the makeovers that the rest of the Scooby Gang had undergone.

Willow now had black hair and was dressed up like a female magician straight from the stages of Las Vegas and, considering what he and Anya had been transformed into, he was fairly certain that meant his bestest bud had been given the powers of one Zatanna Zatara. While it did make sense when you considered the fact that the formerly red haired wicca was their powerhouse magic user, he wasn't quite sure how to take her new look. Fishnet stockings, a black or blue speedo, light gray vest that pushed up and highlighted her chest, a white blouse, a dark blue bowtie, a formal jacket with tails, white gloves and a top hat made up her outfit. He was fairly certain that if someone checked the pockets of the jacket they'd find a wand of some kind in there but he wasn't about to check to see if it was a Harry Potter wand or the white tipped stereotypical wand found in every home magic kit in America.

Next came Tara, who was starting to come to although it was anyone's guess how long she'd stay that way once she got a good look at herself. Blue ankle high boots with one inch heels, blue fishnet stockings, a dark blue/black one piece bathing suit, a jacket that had long sleeves but barely reached halfway down her back and dark blue ladies gloves. Now, he might have been mistaken but he was pretty sure that Tara was dressed up like the Black Canary but there was no way of knowing for certain until she tried to use the heroine's trademark canary cry power. Not exactly something Giles would be in favor of, considering the number of glass containers and crystal objects in the Magic Box.

Speaking of the G-Man, he was the next person his eyes fell upon and it didn't take him a minute to figure out who the Watcher had been dressed up as. His gut told him though that this would either be very good or very bad depending on what traits the Brit might have been given along with the costume. After all, while the character was one of the smartest and most skilled heroes in the entire DC universe, he was also anti-social which would make things somewhat difficult. Add the potential hours of brooding that could be on the horizon and it was anyone's guess who'd annoy who more before the first month passed. Brooding was of the Deadboy, of course, so inheriting anything like that would definitely be a downer but on the other hand having someone who could kick ass and deduce with the best of them might balance things out. He'd have to wait until the G-Man woke up thought to get a better idea of which version of the Caped Crusader the Brit had received his empowerment from. If it was the comic book version, it'd be rough seas ahead for one and all but, if it was the Batman from the cartoons shown in the last ten years, then it'd be okay.

Allowing his eyes to continue on to the next person in the room, he had to gulp a bit at the potential explosion on the horizon both figuratively as well as literally.

Laying face down on the floor where Buffy had been standing prior to the activation of the spheres was now a redheaded young woman wearing an avian style headdress, a strapless, sleeveless shirt, green pants and red boots with an impressive looking mace tucked beneath her belt. However he was only peripherally aware of these things because the most noticeable additions made to the former Slayer were two gray feathered angel wings that easily looked as though they could carry her through the air. The costume mixed with everything else left little doubt in his mind that Elizabeth 'Buffy' Summers had been given the powers, abilities and mental characteristics of one Shayera Hol aka Hawkgirl. On the plus side this transformation had given the girl five more inches of height by his estimate and as an added bonus (at least in his opinion) it looked like she had a bit more padding in the chest area. Of course he'd never say anything about that to her face because, if Buffy had inherited Shayera's temper, then words of a perverted nature would be the surest way to provoke her into swinging that mace of hers at his head.

_And if you're listening, Anya, I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell her either._ He thought on the off chance that his now telepathic ex-fiance was eavesdropping on his thoughts, _After all, while I might be invulnerable to just about everything now, an Nth metal Thanagarian mace will still hurt._

_No problem, Xander. I quite agree with you that larger breasts would make her look sexy and would be necessary now that she's a bit taller._ Anya thought to him with a small grin, _After all, given how small they were before, it's a wonder that she wasn't mistaken for a boy._

Quickly moving his thoughts away from **that** particular comment he directed his gaze to the last person to have been assigned a sphere by the balance demon Whistler.

Dawn Summers.

She looked the most ordinary among the lot of them in terms of appearance but there were a few tell tale signs that there was more to her now than met the eye. Shiny silver gauntlets, sandals that looked like they'd been made in ancient Greece and a glowing golden lasso were the most telling that he could see but, if one looked closer, they could see something more. At first glance it looked like she was wearing a midriff-revealing red shirt but with his new eyes he could tell that the top was actually made of thousands of mini-metal rings linked together like chainmail, revealing the shirt to be armor. It was an amazing piece of craftsmanship that he highly doubted modern tech could reproduce even if the company behind it was given unlimited funds. You could almost say that it was crafted by the gods. Kind of fitting, considering he was pretty sure that Dawn had been given the attributes of one Cassandra Sandsmark, aka Wonder Girl. While he was a bit surprised that it was Wonder Girl rather than Wonder Woman, since the former had never been a part of the League like everyone else's costumes, he was pretty sure it was for the best. If Buffy woke up and found her little sister wearing the traditional Wonder Woman outfit, she'd freak out big time and probably start yelling death threats towards Whistler at the top of her lungs. Threats she could very well make good on, depending on whether or not the qualities of her mace were the same as Hol's in the cartoon.

Getting to his feet, he could see now precisely what the Powers That Be had intended and while he would have preferred a bit more power in his team he had to admit that it was a pretty good selection of powers and abilities. Whether or not they'd be able to take down Warren 'Doomsday' Mears with them would depend on how everyone handled their upgrade when they woke up. If they woke up with their minds more or less in the same state as his own, then only a few minutes of adjustment time would be needed before they could get underway. If that was not the case, though, if their transformation had left them disoriented, then he would have to take only those who were most coherent or confident in their newly acquired skills. He more than anyone else knew just how powerful and deadly Doomsday was by himself but, with the mind of Warren behind the wheel, it'd be far more horrible than any demon. He could only imagine what horrible things the sicko was doing right now and, if it weren't for the fact that the others would need his help coming to grips with their changes, he'd already have flown away in pursuit.

It didn't take the others long to regain consciousness, no more than ten minutes, and while he knew that the situation was serious, he was sort of looking forward to seeing their reactions to everything.

"Uhhhh…Killing Whistler isn't going to be near enough for putting me through something like this." Buffy said as she pushed herself off the ground and planted her feet, "I'm going to use his ribcage for a hat, his intestines for garters and his skull as an ashtraaa----!"

The newly minted redhead's words were forcibly stopped as she suddenly found herself with quite a bit more weight on her back than she was used to. As a result she nearly fell on her butt and probably would have had he not zipped across the room and steadied her with his hands. He'd been a bit leery of using super speed in such a cluttered room but it looked like along with everything else, the PTBs had seen fit to give him a loose grip on his abilities. He didn't think he'd be trying any of the more complicated things without a little practice first and it'd probably be the same for Buffy and the others.

"Xander? What? How?" Buffy asked once she managed to regain some semblance of balance.

"Long story short, Buffy, you now have a pair of fully functional angel wings on your back and, in case the costume I'm wearing doesn't clue you in, I just moved at super speed." He replied with a smile as he watched the others get to their feet, albeit slowly due to their lingering disorientation, "As for why you have wings and I can move at super speed it looks like we've all become members of the Justice League."

"Just us what?" Buffy asked, clearly not understanding the reference marking her as being a non-comic person.

"Justice League. A group of superheroes from the same universe as Doomsday." He explained as he tried to repress his inner geek that was all but hopping up and down inside of him, "You're Hawkgirl, I'm Superman, Willow is Zatanna, Giles is Batman, Dawn is Wonder Girl, Tara is Black Canary and Anya, I'm guessing, got turned into a female version of the Martian Manhunter, J'onn J'onzz."

He watched with some interest as a light bulb of sorts metaphorically turned on inside their heads as he spoke the name of their costumed identities. In fact much of their disorientation seemed to pass now that they had a name to put to the things floating around inside their heads and that would hopefully make things easier for them once they tracked down Doomsday.

"Remind me to thank Whistler next time he shows up." Giles said getting to his feet but in a tone none of them could recall hearing from the Brit before.

Looking at the surrogate father of the former Scooby gang turned Justice League, it didn't take any super vision powers to clue him into the fact that some drastic changes had been wrought. The most visible was the chiseled physical features made visible by the skintight nature of the costume because what he saw was definitely not consistent with a fifty-four year old. Even if such a man engaged in vigorous exercises every day, he very much doubted that anyone over forty-five years of age could look like they belonged on the set of a martial arts movie. The lines of age that should have been visible on G-Man's jaw were also not present and in their place was the smooth skin of someone younger than a 35 year old. Calling upon the knowledge and memories of the hero whose powers he now possessed, he used his X-Ray vision to look beneath the cowl and was stunned by what he saw. Instead of a fifty-four year old man he saw someone who didn't look a day over thirty and to say that Giles looked dashing now would be something of an understatement. Returning his sight to its default setting, he had to wonder what sort of reactions the others would have once they got a look at the new and improved Rupert Giles. Jaw dropping would definitely happen and one or two 'holy shit' statements could happen as well. Unfortunately, they had more pressing business to attend to and it was time for them to get going before Doomsday added to the death toll any more than he already had.

"Time to get going." He said as he turned to the front door of the Magic Box, "Warren's already had almost an hour of lead time to do as he pleases. No telling how many people are dead now."

"But how're we going to get there?" Dawn asked, pointing out a potential flaw in his train of thought, "Some of us can fly, of course, but we have no idea where to start looking for him."

"Oh that won't be hard." Anya said looking somewhat distracted by something, "If this Doomsday is as bad as Xander's mind is making him out to be, then it'll be on all the news stations for sure."

"Ahn! Please don't eavesdrop on my thoughts." He said, not liking the fact that the ex-vengeance demon now had the ability to peek inside the minds of others, "It's disrespectful and more than a little embarrassing for the one being mind scanned."

To this Anya just shrugged and resumed doing whatever it was she was doing before Dawn spoke. Considering what she'd said, he was fairly certain she was peeking inside the heads of everyone there and looking for anything amusing. Hopefully the others wouldn't catch onto this possibility or taking down Warren would be made all the harder by the fact that his own teammates would be at each other's throats. Shaking his head to get that mental image out of his head, he zipped off at super speed into the back training room where they had a TV hooked up for reviewing Buffy's performance on patrol. It was something that Giles had suggested soon after the Magic Box was purchased and thankfully the previous owner of the place had made sure that cable came with the place. Running back into the main shop area, he placed the television on top of the counter and inside of two seconds had everything hooked up and the idiot box turned on. He didn't have to flip very far through the channels before finding what he sought, but what he saw was far worse than anything he'd originally anticipated.

"This is Catherine Chung with Channel Five action news continuing my coverage of his horrible maelstrom of destruction that looks like something straight out of a monster movie," an Asian woman's voice from off screen while the camera focused on the action on the street below. "Less than half an hour ago a creature baring a disturbing resemblance to the comic book villain Doomsday dropped from the sky above San Francisco and immediately began carving a path of destruction deeper into the city. Every police officer and S.W.A.T team member within reasonable distance of the disturbance has been called in to deal with the situation however, from this reporter's vantage point, they have had little success."

_No shit!_ He thought as he watched the signs of automatic gunfire and explosives being directed at the grey and white form of Doomsday, _They might as well be using squirt guns and water balloons against him!_

"According to an update I've just received from Channel Five's newsroom, National Guard troops are en route to the city to reinforce the courageous law enforcement officers already combating the monster. However the latest estimate puts them at least forty-five minutes away and by that time the being with the appearance of the fictional Doomsday will most likely have be past Prescott street by then." Chung said as a particularly loud explosion rocked the street below, "Still, one has to wonder that even if the National Guard do make it here if they will be able to turn the tide against this creature. At this very moment S.W.A.T team members appear to be hard pressed to even slow this monstrosity's advance and they are both trained and prepared to handle heavily armed threats. Will the arrival of the National Guard truly be enough?"

"If they aren't then we'll be there to make up the difference." He stated before marching towards the front door of the shop with determination in every movement.

"But Xander, even if we now know where he is, how're we supposed to get there in time?" Buffy asked sounding a little more at peace wither new form.

Opening the front door of the Magic Box, he found himself to be momentarily struck speechless as his eyes took in the vehicle that pretty much took up the entire street from one side to another. Either the Powers That Be were being overly generous tonight for some reason or Doomsday was a bigger threat than he'd originally thought to get those cheapskates to give them this.

Whatever the reason for this bit of good luck, their transport problems were officially solved.

"By using this Javelin aircraft, of course." He said pointing at the primary means of transportation for the Justice League in recently televised cartoon series.

The slack jawed looks on most of their faces as they exited the Magic Box was priceless but he was a little more worried about Rupert 'Batman' Giles, given how the man's eye slits were narrowing in accordance to the face beneath the cowl. While it was a well known fact that Bruce Wayne was a master at keeping his emotions off his face when wearing his cape and cowl, the addition of the Brit once known as Ripper to the mix allowed some cracks to be seen.

Cracks that showed him that the Watcher's anger was on the rise.

"Where's my car?" Giles asked, looking at the vacant spot where the automobile that symbolized the man's attempt to reinvent himself had been parked.

_The PTBs had better hope that G-Man doesn't get to them, otherwise mere mortal or no, they're going to be sporting more than a few bruises when all is said and done._ He thought with a shudder when he thought of the Dark Knight Ripper going spooky creature of the night on those higher beings.

* * *

_**En Route to San Francisco, ETA Five Minutes, Inside the J.L.U Javelin, Dawn's P.O.V**_

_Damn, Xander looks good!_ Dawn thought as looked at her former crush sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

She knew that she should probably be focusing on the battle that was going to happen in a matter of minutes but she just couldn't get over how well her former (and perhaps future) crush looked wearing tight fitting bodysuit. Muscles that before had only been hinted at were now almost impossible to miss since his costume left very little to the imagination, given how it molded itself to the young man's body. While she couldn't be sure, she'd bet her entire life savings that the Harris boy's transformation had made him much more drool worthy muscle-wise then he'd been before this mess began. With the perfect body combined with a mind that had always treated her as an equal in the past, she was really going to have to re-evaluate how she looked at him. Up until today she had all but given up on ever being more than a good friend to the founding male member of the Scooby gang and this had only been reinforced when he announced his engagement to Anya. While it was true that they were currently estranged and the wedding put on indefinite hold, it was pretty much the consensus of everyone else that they'd eventually get back together. They had three years of history together, after all, and that wasn't something you threw away because of a little bit of conflict here and there. Still a little voice inside of her was kinda hoping that the estrangement would grow into an actual break up or an agreement to just be friends. It was irrational, of course, but just like Xander, she secretly bought and read comic books. Thus she couldn't help but draw comparison's between Superboy's relationship with Cassie and what might be possible between her and Xander.

_After all, Superman and Wonder Woman were an item for a while until the writers went down the predictable path to Lois Lane. Superboy and Cassie were shaping up to be an item in recent issues._ She thought as she followed comic book logic through to its logical conclusion, _If things keep going according to the pattern, then it could very well be fate that me and Xander come together._

It made sense since Xander'd probably worry himself senseless if he started dating an ordinary woman, so it'd be a stroke of good luck if the two of them hooked up. While not as invulnerable to harm as, say, Supergirl or anything, she'd never seen a panel in a single comic book featuring Wonder Girl where it took anything less than a super villain to injure her. Add to that the fact that even injured heroines managed to get back into the fight within a couple of issues and, even if she did get hurt, she'd heal remarkably quickly. Therefore her durability and skill as the new Wonder Girl would make it seriously difficult for anyone to hurt her, thus making it less stressful for Xander to do his hero thing. She could even fight by his side! Oh, she could already picture the heroic acts they'd perform together! Taking down Doomsday! Fighting crime bosses by the dozens! Saving the world on a monthly basis! Sure, they sort of did that already, but this time she wouldn't be playing second fiddle to her sister. Sure, she'd seen the Justice League cartoon with Xander and, sure, Hawkgirl was pretty good in a fight, but she was nowhere near Superman's league when it came to the kind of baddies she could take down. In fact she wouldn't be surprised if she wound up on crowd control or search and rescue duties once they hit San Francisco instead of tackling Doomsday. That would be the perfect opportunity to show him just how grown up she was now and obliterate that stupid 'she is my little sister' roadblock that kept getting in the way of her pursuit of him. Once that was gone and they got shipped off to whatever new dimension the Pricks That Be decided to fire them off to, she could start making inroads to his heart so she could someday soon claim it for her own.

It was perfect!

_Perfect except for the fact that Buffy'd kill him if he tried anything like that with you. Then there's the fact that'll take more than a tight mini-t-shirt to make him see you as anything other than 'the younger sister of Buffy Summers',_ thought Anya from insider her mind with a derisive tone. _Besides, with this massive make over of mine me and MY Xander might be getting back sooner than you think, so don't go making any long terms plan yet, __**kiddo**__!_

_Oh, shut up!_ She thought back at the blonde Martian, who sat behind Rupert 'Batman' Giles, who was in the pilot's chair.

Nevertheless she had to admit that with the powers of the Martian Manhunter at her disposal, Anya could very well have what it took to put her relationship with Xander back on track. After all, with impressive shapeshifting powers, the former vengeance demon could literally change anything about her physical form she wanted in order to better fulfill Xander's desires. Add to that her telepathy letting her know precisely what buttons to push to get the reactions she wanted and it made her a woman to be reckoned with in the war for Xander's affections. Still, she wasn't going to just let this go this time around and accept the fact that he'd never see her as anything other than Buffy's little sister. Nope! This time she was going to keep on trying until he either saw her as her own woman or realized that, in her case, resistance was futile.

Feeling as well as hearing the change in velocity, she knew that they had arrived at their destination and the flaming, damaged city below pretty much sealed the deal. Now on the cusp of battle, even she would admit to feeling a little uneasy about it all seeing as how this would be the first time she'd be using her new powers under real battlefield conditions, but she knew she'd have her friends and family by her side.

"T-minus sixty seconds." Xander called back from his position in the co-pilot's seat, "Once we arrive, Wonder Girl, Miss Martian and I will take on Doomsday head on. Batman, Black Canary and Zatanna will be on both crowd control as well as search and rescue."

"What's with the order giving, Xander?" Buffy asked, sounding both surprised as well as a bit annoyed at her friend's presumption of leadership, "And what the heck do you want me to do?"

"Well I guess the bossiness comes from what I got from Superman since he was pretty much the top dog in the Justice League next to Batman." Xander replied sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head, "As for the other, I thought you could be our eyes in the sky keeping tabs on local law enforcement and emergency back up for whichever group got into trouble first. Do you mind?"

Fortunately when things were explained like that, her elder sister soon found herself without a leg to stand on as far as rejecting Xander's orders were concerned. She personally saw nothing wrong with the arrangement since it meant she'd be fighting alongside Xander, providing her with an excellent chance to show him what she could do.

"No, and I guess that means that I get to park this thing after letting you guys out the back hatch, right?" Buffy asked with less resistance in her voice than before the explanation was given.

"Right. In fact it's time for you to take over right now." Rupert Wayne stated as he set the Javelin in hover mode over the city of San Francisco not twenty blocks from where Doomsday was currently demolishing a residential area, "Let's go."

_I gotta admit that if it wasn't for my crush on Xander, I'd be thinking that Giles is a hottie to now._ She thought as she considered what the Watcher looked like now under that cape and cowl, _I wonder what a late twenties or early thirties version of G-man looks like._

"Something like this I'd expect." Came the voice of Anya but when everyone looked in the direction it was coming from they found a much younger version of Giles sitting in Miss Martian's place.

"ANYA! Stay out of my head!" she exclaimed angrily before she noticed everyone's eyes go from the young Giles copy to her.

Growling out all the swear words she'd ever heard, she marched angrily to the rear hatch, slapped the button to open it almost hard enough to break it and then flew out into the open air, heading for Warren for some much needed anger venting.

_Time to strut my stuff and show that mental peeping tom what she can look forward to if she eavesdrops on my thoughts again!_ She thought before amping up her speed and pointing both her fists at Doomsday's back.

* * *

_**Ten Minute Earlier, San Francisco, California, Two Streets Over From Prescott Street**_

_**Warren 'Doomsday' Mears' P.O.V**_

"Well this is getting old fast," He said as he slammed his spiked knuckles into another clump of S.W.A.T officers, causing them to explode in a show of blood and guts. "I hope those National Guard soldiers get here soon. Maybe they can pack a bigger punch then these wimps."

It had been a blast starting out when he'd first landed!

Fists, bullets, grenades and just about every other weapon that could be found in the armories of municipal law enforcement institutions had been thrown at him and he hadn't felt a thing. Neither pain nor the sensation of impact was felt despite the powerful firearms that were brought to bear against him. Even grenades and various gases did little more than irritate him before his unique physiology adapted, rendering them useless. It was intoxicating to know that nothing could harm him and with the knowledge that not even the most powerful weapon of this age, a nuclear bomb, could kill him, he knew he could pretty much do whatever he wanted. However things were getting a bit dull with so little of his awesome strength needing to be brought to bear to tear through these weaklings. It was this fact that almost made him wish that he had allowed Andrew and Jonathan to get their power ups as well since the characters they'd dressed up as just might have provided him with a small challenge to overcome. However this thought was swept aside when he recalled the price that would have been exacted on him if he hadn't gone through with using them as his sacrificial pawns.

Looking around, he realized that the local P.D and S.W.A.T teams had pulled back for yet another regrouping session so that they could come up with another useless plan to stop him. When were they gonna realize that it was all hopeless? Unless they had some super secret project where they were creating something with superhuman abilities, they were just wasting their time. Perhaps he should assault one of the more powerful demon clans in the area. They would certainly provide him with more of a challenge than these weak humans and, with the jewel embedded in his new body, he was completely immune to all manner of sorcery unless he willed himself to be affected by it. It was, after all, a common fact that demons were grouped into one of two groups: those that were physically powerful and those that were strong because of their skill with magic. In terms of brute force he had them outclassed completely since none that he had ever heard of were strong enough to leap miles in one hop or punch a vault door off its hinges. As for those with potent magic, they too were not a concern since his jewel protected him completely, rendering them no better than an ordinary mortal compared to him. Still, they'd provide more amusement then these pitiful humans were currently throwing his way and he just might be able to learn something useful from them in the process.

He was just about to leap towards the demon district of the city when he spotted something two streets over that made him reconsider. He'd known from the moment he'd arrived in the city that the local P.D would do everything they could to evacuate the area around him so as to protect civilians so seeing signs of non-law enforcement life was somewhat unexpected. Stepping towards the sounds of life, it wasn't long before he heard the tell tale sounds of chanting and instantly knew that he was facing some spell casters. Grinning at the possibility of a true opportunity to explore the depths of his new power, he slowed his steps so as to give the magic users as much time as possible to complete whatever they were trying to do. He wouldn't wait all night of course, since then he'd get bored again, but he was feeling generous in light of the possibility of actually having to put forth some effort.

_Perhaps they're creating some golems or something to throw at me?_ He thought as he threw a punch at the house blocking his path shattering the back of it like it was made of ice, _Those might actually keep me busy for a couple of minutes._

It was then that he realized that the magic using demons might actually be more of a challenge than he'd originally thought. While it was true that they wouldn't be able to affect him directly without his consent, the environment around him was another matter entirely. While he wasn't worried per se about this little wrinkle in his original plan, he would have to take the sorcerers and witches a little more seriously since he didn't want them to magically bury him a hundred kilometers beneath the surface of the Earth. With that in mind, he began tearing through the house in front of him with a little more effort than before, thus cutting the time the spell casters had to work with in half. Punching, kicking or stomping whatever he felt like, he idly wondered where some of the things he'd knocked into the air had landed. There had been a few times in the confrontations with the local law enforcement officers that he'd gotten annoyed, thus putting a little more strength behind his throws than he should have. This had resulted in several cars, trucks and, in one case, a big dump truck being thrown high into the air until it disappeared from sight. Had it touched down in San Francisco somewhere or had they all flown past the city limits and into the middle of nowhere? He didn't know and, in the end, he decided that it ultimately didn't matter since even if one of them landed on a hospital or an orphanage, he wouldn't give a shit. This world was his playground now and all of the people in it only as valuable as they were amusing to him.

Bashing through the final house blocking him from seeing the spell casters, he was amused to see that it was three women ranging in age from late twenties to early thirties according to his eyes. One had long hair and looked to be the type to run her own business or perhaps fall for some guy from a level or two above her in terms of social level. The one in the center had short hair that barely reached her shoulders and practically screamed 'responsible' and 'surrogate mother' in how she behaved towards the other two. The final one had hair that was just as short but not only was she the youngest of the three but she had clothes on that implied that she was something of an eternal teenager at heart. An interesting mix as far as witches went and, from the looks of the elaborate set up they had in front of them, they were pulling out quite a few stops to try and stop him.

"Well, well, look what we have here!" he said with much humor as he began to step towards them, "Three lovely ladies who ignored orders from the police to clear out and think they can abra kadabra me away with their magic. Hit me with your best shot, ladies!"

This caused them to blink a bit since they probably didn't run into many beings that were actually willing to **wait** to be blasted into oblivion or vanquished somehow. Still, they were smart enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth and quickly went back to their chanting, albeit at a slightly faster pace since they probably expected him to get impatient sooner rather than later with them. One minute later, as their chanting reached its peak, he was rewarded for his patience by receiving a blast of magical energy that struck him dead center. It actually tingled as the arcane energy tried to force its will on his body but, thanks to his precious jewel, tingle was all it did and, with a flexing of his muscles, the spell was shattered. Scratching his chest to make it look like their spell had left an itch there, he yawned to make it clear to them that their efforts were useless beyond measure. He almost spoiled the entire act by chuckling as he saw looks of hopelessness and despair appear on their faces but managed to keep the bored look on his face.

"Well? Is that it? I gotta say I'm not impressed," he said as he resumed walking towards them. "Maybe if I tie one of you up in a knot the other two will actually put a little more effort into things."

"Stay away from them!" Shouted the business minded one as she thrust her arms in his direction to work some magic.

For a moment he felt as though everything including himself had been frozen in place, immobilized in some kind of stasis field, but as with everything attempting to influence his body it was soon neutralized. As his body began to resume moving, he had to admit he was a little impressed that the bitch had managed to stop him, even if it was only for a moment or two. Seeing as how his jewel hadn't automatically activated, he could only presume that the spell the woman had cast hadn't been directed specifically at him but rather on everything around her for quite a distance in all directions. Since it wasn't specific to him personally, the jewel hadn't done a thing and so it was up to his Doomsday body to physically adapt to the spell and then overcome it. Soon enough the stasis spell failed to affect him entirely and the looks of shock on the faces of the three witches were priceless as he managed to thwart their efforts for a second time. However, as the responsible one stood up, it was clear they weren't quite willing to throw in the towel just yet but, when the substitute mother nodded her head sharply in his direction, he had to wonder what she was doing. He got his answer when some invisible force actually knocked him back into the wreckage of the last house he'd destroyed but that was mostly because he hadn't known what to expect. Getting back to his feet, he began to march in the direction of the three ladies he was ready when Ms. Responsible used the spell on him again and so it barely caused him to break his stride. As the woman got more and more desperate, the potency of her force attacks began to diminish rather than strengthen, indicating that her rising fear was weakening her ability to channel her magic effectively.

"Well, it looks like you've reached the bottom of your bag of tricks, girls," he said as he brought up his right fist to finish things permanently. "Let's go straight to the big finish then."

"Couldn't have put it better myself!" Came a familiar voice from behind him.

Before he could turn his head to see who had yelled at him, something powerful struck him from behind and actually managed to send him tumbling down the street. It didn't hurt per se but it was definitely stronger than anything he had been hit with so far and that was enough to warrant his attention. Getting to his feet and turning around, he was shocked to see one Dawn Summers floating in the air wearing a very recognizable outfit.

"So this is what the White Hat committee decides to send against me?" He asked with contempt even though he was pleased with the change of sparring partners, "A high schooler given powers that imitate Wonder Girl's abilities? Please! The least they could have done was send a Superman impersonator or perhaps a Wonder Woman copy."

"Ask and ye shall receive**!**" Came Xander's voice less than two seconds before a fist slammed into his jaw, once more sending him to the ground.

Quicker to recover from this blow than the others he was on his feet in less than a moment but what he saw was enough to make him begin chuckling with happiness at the trio now floating in the air ten feet from where he was standing. Apparently the Powers That Be had decided to splurge a little because floating there before him were three people he knew from Sunnydale clad as heroes from the same universe as Doomsday came from.

Xander Harris as Superman.

Anya Jenkins as a female Martian Manhunter wannabe.

Dawn Summers as Wonder Girl Cassandra Sandsmark.

Three heavy hitters that would actually allow him to cut loose without fear of the fight ending before he achieved some measure of satisfaction.

Perfect.

* * *

_**Prescott Street, In Front of Halliwell Manor, One Second Later, Xander's P.O.V**_

"Miss Martian! Let's heat things up!" Xander said as he fired his heat vision at Doomsday at half strength before steadily increasing it due to lack of initial effect on his grey skinned foe.

"Right!" Anya declared as she added her own heat vision to the mix.

They had talked about it telepathically during the trip to San Francisco and had agreed that a direct fistfight with Warren should be avoided at all cost since that was the mistake the original Superman had made in the comics. That Man of Steel had focused far too much of his fighting on close quarters combat with the brute and allowed himself to be worn down gradually over the course of a day. If they wanted to have any chance of beating the monster here, they had to soften him up first with their other abilities and only at the end bash him into submission. However, as he watched the heat from the combined assault begin to light up the grass around the target, he knew that something had to be done to get the three women back there out of the danger zone. If this fight turned out to be anything like those in the comic books, then massive property damage was going to be a given and if they didn't want to add loss of life to the mix civilians needed to be evacuated before things went too far.

"You two keep him busy. I'll get those ladies to safety and then be right back." He said before zipping off to where the three witches or Wicca stood looking completely dumbfounded by the sight before them.

"W-w-who are you?" Asked the oldest of the three women.

"I think the S on my chest pretty much answers that, Ma'am." He said with a smile before he gently scooped two of them up in his arms before kneeling down slightly to allow the youngest to get onto his back, "For now, though, I think it's best that I take you clear of the battlefield. Things are going to get a bit intense from here on out. Want a lift out of here?"

"Sure thing, handsome!" Replied the youngest of the three women hopped onto his back, acting like a kid and wrapping her arms around his neck.

However, given how her legs soon followed her arms' lead in wrapping around him, he had to wonder if she wasn't acting more like a teenager who's spotted her latest crush or something. Shaking his head, he took to the sky and flew as quickly as he dared to where his telescopic vision said the local P.D command post was. He stirred up quite a commotion with the officers as well as the few newshounds behind held back behind the police barricades but he tried to not let that bother him too much. Once he touched down on the ground, he set the two ladies down gently on their feet and waited for the youngest on his back to release her grip on his neck and waist.

After a minute, though, he had to wonder if something was wrong so he turned his head a bit to see if perhaps flying had spooked her to the point where she was afraid to let go. However, judging by the dreamy look on her face, he quickly became aware of another possibility about why she was not letting go now that they were on the ground. Sighing, he had to wonder if women were any better at keeping their brains from freezing when they spotted a member of the opposite sex in skintight clothing than men were.

"Miss? We're safely on the ground now." He said politely even though he was still a bit embarrassed at what was happening, "You can get off my back now."

"Huh? OH! Y-yeah… thanks!" The youngest woman said as she hopped off his back, sounding like she finally understood how things must look to everyone else.

Standing up straighter, he took in the police and S.W.A.T looking at him with a mixture of hope and suspicion that was understandable, considering the situation. He knew that if he wanted this to go smoothly, he'd need to gain their trust somehow so that the good guys didn't wind up fighting amongst themselves when they should be focusing on the real enemy. Thus, with a deep breath, he willed himself to take on as many of his bestowed Superman traits as possible in the hopes that it would instill the same amount of respect in these law enforcers as one would have for the real deal.

"Who's in charge of this operation?" he asked, hoping that by gaining the respect of the top dog everyone under that person would feel the same.

"That'd be me." Spoke a tough as nails African American decked out in full S.W.A.T gear, "Sergeant Dan Harrelson of L.A S.W.A.T. And you are?"

"Let's stick with Superman for the time being, Sergeant," he replied doing his best to sound professional and polite. "Would you mind if me and my team took a crack at that thing? No disrespect intended but it is a little more up our alley than yours."

"Sure. I'll order my men to focus on clearing the civilians from the surrounding area to give you and your people room to work," Harrelson, replied not sounding **too** annoyed at being told to back off by a stranger. "But it might a different deal when the National Guard shows up. They haven't had to fight bone face for the past hour like we have and will probably need to be smacked around a bit before they realize they actually need help. Don't expect them to be too polite when they show up."

"When do you expect them to show up?" He asked, wanting to know when the League and him could expect some friendly fire to be sent their way.

"Got an ETA from the C.O of the group ten minutes ago," replied the Sergeant as he took off his glasses and pocketed them. "They'll be here in less than an hour. I suggest that if you don't want to end up being asked some uncomfortable questions, you put this bruiser down before then."

"Will do, Sergeant." He said before lifting into the air once more and heading towards the sounds of battle no doubt caused by Anya and Dawn taking on Doomsday.

So they had one hour to take down something that made mince meat of the Justice League in the comics before they'd get shot at by the people they were here to help.

Great. No pressure.

* * *

_**Back At The P.D & S.W.A.T Regrouping Point, P.O.V #1**_

"Mmmm! Nice butt!" Phoebe muttered as she watched the cape-wearing young man fly off to fight a courageous battle against that monster.

"PHOEBE!" Prue cried, sounding less than happy about her youngest sibling's behavior.

"Oh please! Like you weren't looking at it too," she said with a snort at the idea of her sister scolding her for something she herself was doing. "Besides it's been so long since you last went out with anyone, it's nice to see you aren't completely out of it."

To this Prue could only turn away and fume but it was enough to for her to believe that she had hit the mark right on the head with her statement. Not that she could blame her sister since this Superman wannabe definitely filled out his costume **quite** nicely and made her wonder what it'd be like to peel it off him. True, he looked to be a little young for her but she was willing to make a few allowances for someone with such fine muscles and charming good nature. Besides, he was legal and it was only a three or four year difference, so it wasn't like she was engaging in cradle robbing or anything. Now if Prue got any ideas about going after Superman, then **that** could easily be considered cradle robbing since the difference in age was closer to ten years. Still, the prim and proper Prue Halliwell would never think of doing such a thing since it would probably throw every moral bone of her body by doing that. Add to that the fact that Piper was seeing Leo and that Superman would be wide open to her advances.

_Assuming, of course, he sticks around after this._ She thought with a bit of concern as the possibility of him vanishing after all was said and done was a distinct possibility.

Oh well! She was sure that the Book of Shadows would be up to the job of tracking him down and then he would be the Superman to her Lois Lane!

* * *

_**The Battlefield of Prescott Street, Thirty Minutes Later, Xander's P.O.V**_

_O-kay! I guess it was too much to hope that freezing him in a block of ice would stop him. _Xander thought as he watched Warren shatter his icy cocoon.

It had been a good planning starting out, to wear down Doomsday with their other abilities first, but even with the others helping him it was taking a bit more work than he'd originally thought. So far he and Anya had used their vision powers on him and were now using their secondary abilities but they weren't having all that much effect. Judging by the sweat on Miss Martian's head, her efforts to telepathically assault the monster's mind was being met with some pretty nasty resistance. Fortunately, with both him and Wonder Girl providing cover, his ex was able to work without fear of getting a car thrown at her but they couldn't keep it up forever. Warren might not have been a tactical genius but even amateurs got lucky occasionally. With that in mind, he decided that the best move be could make would be to make sure the asshole never got the chance to think up a half-decent plan. Diving in with a sudden burst of speed, he immediately began to tear into the monster, trying to focus on scoring hits that would affect joints or break off the bone spikes sticking out of its skin. By doing this he would hopefully reduce the killing machine's lethal potential and make taking him down easier.

A punch to the gut followed by slamming his head into the street, though, reminded him that he was dealing with something on par, if not superior, to his own abilities.

Twisting and slamming an elbow into the arm that had a hold of his head, he managed to free himself and with a little application of both flight as well as super speed he was clear before Warren could re-establish his grip. Rising back into the air while Wonder Girl made her attack run, he hovered next to Anya, who looked to have given up trying to bring down the killer with telepathy. Either it was because Doomsday's mind had evolved to the point where it could completely block telepathy or simply because there was another magical barrier in place like the jewel that prevented sorcery from working on him. Whatever the reason, it meant that they'd just lost one more avenue of assault with this brute and that meant things were going to get one level more difficult.

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way, Miss Martian," he said, watching the fight below as Dawn tried to use her golden lasso to tie Warren up. "Let's double team him!"

"Right, lover!" Anya said with a smile that implied she was **thinking** of something and that was never of the good.

Swooping down by her side, they attacked him from the front and side delivering thunderous blows intended to knock Doomsday into the other's attacks. Not only would this increase the damage done but it would also minimize the chances of the baddie being able to get away from them or mount a counterattack. It worked for a while, especially once Wonder Girl got into the mix, but with a clap of his hands powerful enough to send out shockwaves, they were all knocked back a dozen feet or so. It was a move he should have anticipated since it had been done more than once in DC comics, but it was water under the bridge now so he'd just have to move on.

"Hahahahahaha! This is the most fun I've had in years, Harris!" Warren chuckled, looking more laid back then he should, considering the situation. "But if that's the best you can throw at me then this is going to get boring real fast."

"Then how about you try me on for size bones for brains! HHAAAHH!" Came a voice that he had hoped he wouldn't hear until he called for her.

In a blur of red, grey, yellow and green the former Slayer turned Thanagarian introduced herself to the bone-ridden behemoth the best way she knew how: she swung her energized mace at him like she was trying to hit a home run and managed to take the behemoth clear off his feet. It didn't stop there, though, because, with a little momentum built up, Buffy obviously felt encouraged to continue attacking and so continued to wail on Mears with her energy mace. He knew it wouldn't last forever, though, and when he saw Warren about to slap her out of the way, he used his super speed to charge in and grab a hold of the arm before it could deliver a blow that could seriously injure his friend or worse. It wasn't exactly easy, he had to put all of his weight and even add the power of his flying ability to keep the arm immobile, but he managed to do it just the same. Anya took his lead and immediately moved to immobilize the other arm so as to make sure that not a single slap or punch would make contact with Buffy's body. On the winged wonder's side of things, it looked like a mace made of energized Nth metal was having a greater degree of effect than anything they'd tried to date. Did this mean that somehow Warren's new form was still somewhat magical in nature? It was possible, given how Nth metal possessed properties capable of disrupting magic. It had been enough to knock Solomon Grundy for a loop and do some pretty serious damage to a Felix Faust possessed suit of armor created by Hephestus himself. How long it would stay that way he didn't know because he seriously doubted that the fight was going to end this smoothly for them.

"ENOUGH!!" Bellowed Doomsday before, with a surge of strength from the brute, everyone was thrown hard enough to leave dents in whatever they landed on.

For him and Miss Martian it hadn't been so bad despite the bruises he knew he'd have later, but for Buffy it was worse as his eyes could see cracks in some of her bones as well as serious bruises forming. He could only hope that the healing factor that was a part of all Thanagarians would be up the task of helping her make a full recovery. She was out cold for the moment, lying still on the front lawn of one of the houses, but still breathing and, given enough time, she'd recover. For the time being, though, they'd have to do all they could to keep the monster away from her so as to keep the damage to her body from getting any worse.

Dawn, thankfully, was completely behind that way of thinking as she shot into place as a red and blue before attacking in a way that would make a Slayer look pathetic. With power and grace he had never seen in the youngest Summers girl before, she made it look as though she might be able to take down Warren all on her own. This made sense since brute strength and durability alone does not guarantee victory in a battle and, even before his transformation, Mears was a complete amateur when it came to fighting. Even the original Doomsday wasn't really all that great of a fighter when you got right down to it; the killing machine was more of a brawler than a skilled fighter but, with the power the creature possessed, that had been sufficient to make up for it. Warren Mears, though, wasn't a berserker monster with a body filled with endless rage with which to draw strength from. He was a punk kid who used dark magic to turn himself into a mountain of muscle without any real idea of how to use it effectively. That was the primary reason they had been so successful so far because he had no doubt that if Mears had actually undergone training to make it so that he was able to use the power of Doomsday to its fullest, they'd be dead now.

_I suppose that's an unintended gift on the part of the Black Hats._ He thought since it was a safe bet if they'd known about Warren's lack of skill, they'd have done something about it.

Charging Doomsday's position, he began to add his own strength to the fight but, instead of going for precision hits, he was going for power moves in order to cause maximum damage. A suplex here, a back breaker there and other moves that came from the Superman memories he got from the sphere as well as from the world of professional wrestling. As a result, Prescott street was looking more like a warzone that had been hit with several tons of TNT and that could easily be stretched to the entire city if containment of Doomsday failed. They were managing to keep him there because the jerk wanted to give his powers a test drive and fighting superheroes was the best way to do that. If, God forbid, Mears got tired of that, he'd leave and there was no guarantee that they'd be able to stop him from getting to a populated area. If that happened… he didn't even want to think of the damage and deaths that would happen as a result. The scenarios his mind was able to come up with involving that possibility was enough to get him to push his body even harder to bring down Warrensday.

_Too bad it's not going quite as easily as I'd like. _He thought as he took a blow to the jaw from the bone-spiked fist of his enemy.

Indeed while his high powered blows were doing **better** than his earlier surgical strikes, the behemoth showed no signs of going down for the count anytime soon. Bone fragments littered the ground and a bit of black blood could be seen trickling from the brute's mouth, but the former geek of Sunnydale high took no heed of this. He seemed both pissed at the trouble they were causing him and at the same time overjoyed at the fact that he was being pushed farther and farther by the combined efforts of him, Wonder Girl and Miss Martian. There was no fear in this Warren's heart, no concern that he might be killed in this fight, and this lack of fear was allowing him to fight without any hesitation whatsoever.

It also made him sloppy.

Without the threat to his life or any serious amount of pain, Warren had no reason to improve his technique or think strategically. The idiot was just swinging at whatever was closest at the time instead of waiting for the right moment or trying to lure his foes into a no win position. However, the Doomsday body his spirit was inside and had control over was proving extremely resistant to attacks making him wonder just who would give out first between the two sides of this fight. Would the new Justice League drop dead from exhaustion or would they succeed in their task of taking down Doomsday? It was anyone's guess whether the former would prove to be the truth or if the latter would come to pass.

Personally he'd bet every Twinkie he ever had or ever would eat that the light would triumph over the dark in this situation.

The alternative was too horrible to conceive of.

* * *

_**Ten Blocks Away, Outside of a Burning Building, Five Minutes Later, Giles' P.O.V**_

"Is this the last of them?" Giles asked with a voice that he'd learned was impossible to suppress no matter how much he wanted to speak like he usually did.

The voice he referred to, of course, was the deep, gravelly and foreboding voice that Bruce Wayne always used whenever he donned the cowl to fulfill the silent promise he'd made beside the still bodies of his parents. It was a past that was both tragic and, at the same time, made the orphaned rich boy such a fool in the eyes of the seasoned Watcher. He could understand how seeing ones parents die would induce such a fierce trauma that a young boy would devote the entirety of his life to combating the criminal element that took the two most precious people he had. However, to sacrifice so many of life's greatest joys to fulfill that vow was a mistake that he would not permit himself to repeat now that he had assumed the identity of Batman. If he wanted a night off from fighting against the darkness, he'd do just that. If at some point he chose to get married and settle down in a life that didn't include a costume, he would do so without regret. Nevertheless, such thoughts would have to wait until they dealt with Doomsday and arrived in whatever new dimension the Powers That Be chose to sweep them into. While he was no more pleased about leaving his home reality than any of the others, he had a better grasp of the situation in the mystical sense than they did and understood why the Generals of the Light required that they leave. The world as they knew it operated on a principle of balance between the forces of good and evil with neither side gaining the higher ground for long. By resurrecting Buffy they seriously disrupted the balance and gave evil an opening to add something to its side of the scale in order to even things out. While he would think that this Doomsday creature was something in the range of overkill, he understood that the counterweight wasn't proportional to the one-to-one measurement most people would think. Instead it measured the number of lives that Buffy would seriously affect now that she was alive again rather than dead as she once was after throwing herself from the tower built by Glory's minions. In that respect, the monster Mr. Mears turned himself into was quite fair, despite appearances being to the contrary.

Despite this, though, he couldn't help but feel as though there was something none of them were seeing. Call it Batman-induced paranoia or just six years of experience fighting against the darkness alongside his Slayer, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the Darkness was pulling a fast one on them somehow.

"Yes. The apartment building has been completely evacuated," replied Willow 'Zatanna' Rosenberg as she opened her eyes, completing her arcane search of the building. "Now all we have to do is put out the fire so the mess doesn't spread to the other structures. Fortunately I have just the spell for the job now."

Closing her eyes to center herself, it wasn't long before Willow was ready to cast whatever spell she had in mind. While he was suspicious of the 'gifts' that he and his charges had been given by the Powers That Be, if Willow's newfound powers were anything like his own, then he would give her the benefit of a doubt.

"Ldoulc taht rehtag, dniw taht swolb, tnarg su niar ot hsiugnitxe eseht semalf." Willow said before a cloud of sparkles drifted upwards into the sky from her wand.

When the sparkles reached a position high above the burning apartment building, they flowed towards a central point before the familiar signs of a rain cloud forming were perceivable. Larger and larger did the cloud become, growing in size in seconds, until finally rain began to fall onto the building below. At first it was merely a light trickle but, as the minutes ticked by, it soon became a torrential downpour that would have soaked Willow, Tara and him had they not been standing outside the range of the spell. Within the space of ten minutes the fire was completely out and, while the building would need significant repairs, it didn't look bad enough that tearing down the entire building would be necessary.

With this mess dealt with, the majority of the accidental damage caused by the battle the others were having with Doomsday but he had no doubt that there would be more fires for them to put out. He had no doubt that Xander, Dawn, Anya and Buffy were doing their best to bring the behemoth down but he had to wonder if there might be a clock they were racing against. Certainly the more time it took to bring down Warren, the more likely it was that people would get hurt or some sort of irreparable damage would be done to the city. Even with Anya occasionally sending them telepathic warnings of where a particularly large piece of debris was going to be thrown, he and his team were almost constantly on the move going from one location to the next. So far their efforts were sufficient to handle the major situations with the local P.D handling the rest as far as getting civilians out of the danger zone was concerned. There hadn't been any serious injuries that he'd personally seen nor heard the law enforcement officers speak of when they weren't aware of him eavesdropping. Part of him wanted to go to ground zero of the battle against Warren but both the Watcher and the Batman part of his mind told him that he'd only be a burden to Xander and the others. Bruce Wayne's training may have turned him into a man in both his physical and mental prime, he knew that would mean little in the face of the raw power of Doomsday. Physical blows from him would not even be registered. The tools that he had discovered in his utility belt, while a little better than his fists or feet, wouldn't leave so much as scratch the grey behemoth's skin. Lastly any of the many tools Wayne had constructed for dealing with foes with superhuman strength or durability were not available to him at the moment. While he supposed he could try to ram the Javelin down the boney bugger's throat, he had a feeling that that too would be a wasted effort.

He had to have faith that Xander and the others would be up to the task of defeating Doomsday.

"'Fraid we don't have that luxury anymore, Bats." Came a voice that had him reaching for his razor sharp batarangs that were contained in a compartment of his belt.

Turning in the direction of the voice, he found his initial guess about who the owner of the voice was proven to be accurate.

Whistler had returned.

"The higher ups got the same itch in the back of their brains as you did about this whole situation." Whistler said as he walked forward albeit carefully since he knew he was walking on eggshells, "Turns out changing Warren into Doomsday was only phase one of the First's plan. Damn! That overblown puff of smoke really thought this one through."

"Explain." He said with his best intimidating glare.

"As I told you before, the Black Hats chose to turn Warren into Doomsday to act as a counterweight to you guys bringing Summers back from the dead. They made sure that any attempt to summon a force strong enough to beat Doomsday would only give them another chance to put something new onto their side of the game board." Whistler stated as he looked away from the human's glaring at him, "The First Evil added a stipulation at the last minute: every spirit that winds up being destroyed by Doomsday officially becomes its property."

"So? Warren hasn't killed anyone yet so the First hasn't gotten any spirits." Willow said, sounding like she wasn't quite sure what was so important.

"You're only partially right." He said as he realized what Whistler was getting at with grim certainty, "While it's true that Doomsday hasn't taken any **human** spirits yet, there are other types of spirits that inhabit this world that would be affected by his destructive actions. Earth spirits, for one, would be disturbed and in some cases destroyed just by coming into contact with such an unnatural presence. Considering how long this fight has been going on…"

"So many spirits…!" Willow gasped as she realized just how serious the situation had become.

"Got it in one, Red. While there aren't as many nature spirits in a city like this as there would be in a forest, it's only a matter of time before the First gains some real power," Whistler said with a nod, confirming that the former Watcher's theory was the same as that supported by the Powers. "Originally the higher ups were planning on waiting until you guys finished kicking Doomsday's butt before shipping you all off to another dimension. Now they've decided that they'll have to settle for getting you all in one spot before pulling off the dimensional displacement, so you better hook up with your friends quick."

"Right! Get close to me, you two," Willow said as she closed her eyes once more to concentrate on preparations for a spell. "I'll get us there in a flash."

A bit leery of trusting Willow with what he believed she was about to attempt, he considered letting her and Tara go on ahead, allowing him to make it to Prescott street in a more conventional manner. In the end, though, he came to the conclusion that the current crisis required speed and hopping rooftops all the way to where the others were wasn't going to cut it. Thus, with his thoughts concealed beneath an impartial mask, he stepped forward until he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Willow.

"Tropelet su ot erehw rou era gnithgif yadsmooD." Willow said and with a sharp swish of her wand all three disappeared in a flash of blue light.

* * *

_**Same Place, One Minute Later**_

"Man! The higher ups have really managed to drop the ball on this one." Whistler said as he watched the lingering effects of Willow's spell fade away, "Wouldn't be surprised if the Almighty decided to have a sit down with them after this. I wonder if I should take advantage of this and shoot for a chance at a promotion? The Power known as Whistler. I like the sound of that. I'd definitely do a better job that the schmucks currently ruling things."

A rumbling sound in the sky though let him know that it would be in his best interests not to continue that line of thought.

"Hmph! Fine. I wonder if peroxide boy is going to get there in time to catch his inter-dimensional flight." He said as he pulled out his cell phone and began to dial a number, "Better give him a call and make sure he isn't dragging his feet someplace. Heheheheheheh, that's a good one!"


	38. To Counter A Darkness: Part 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the sole property of their creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever. I write only for my own personal enjoyment and the readers who like my work.

* * *

_**The Remains of What was Once Prescott Street**_

_**(Minus Halliwell Manor Which Has Somehow Managed to Remain Intact)**_

_**Same Time, Dawn's P.O.V**_

"Okay! This is getting old," she said as for the umpteenth time she got thrown into the air only to come down on the concrete street hard enough to leave spider web cracks behind. "We need a new plan because just bashing him into submission isn't working."

"I'm open to ideas!" Xander yelled as he performed a punch, knee thrust and elbow combo to Doomsday, only managing to land two of the three blows before forced to evade a counter move.

"Perhaps **we** can be of assistance!" Came a familiar voice before a trio of black objects streaked through the air before impacting on Warren's body, detonating on impact.

Looking back where the trio of objects had come from, she was surprised to see Giles and the others running towards them. According to the battle plan set out at the beginning of the fight, they were in charge of damage control and rescuing civilians in danger. Since the battle with Doomsday was nowhere near over, they should still be someplace else keeping the loss of life and the damage to the city to a minimum.

"What are you guys doing here?" Xander asked as the fight briefly paused in order to take stock of the new entries into this little battle royal.

"Whistler gave us some interesting information." Giles replied extracting two dagger-like batarangs from his utility belt and got into a stance to wield them as such, "Turns out Doomsday here's like a disease and the longer he stays here, the worse it'll get for White Hats everywhere."

Her brow furrowed a bit at this statement because it was already plainly obvious that the longer Warren stayed in this reality the more damage he'd wind up doing. So why was the Brit Batman saying this like it was important? Deciding to start out simple she examined the first part of what had been said: Whistler had shown up again and given Giles' team some new information. For the balance demon messenger of the Powers to show up a second time after giving them their upgrades it must mean that something new had been discovered by the current situation. The Watcher referred to Doomsday as a disease that would make things worse for the good guys the longer he was here in this dimension. This would imply a greater threat than something on a local scale like the fight they were currently embroiled in, something worldwide, and that things would only get worse over time. Was something happening that they could not perceive? Some effect that would make things easier for the forces of badness? She didn't understand what this effect could be but, if the others thought that it was serious enough to leave their posts to join them here, than it must be big.

"Well, then, do you have any ideas for taking this bruiser down?" She asked as she turned her gaze back to their enemy, "'cause aside from pounding on him until it goes down, we got nothing."

"Let's see how he likes the sound of my voice." Tara replied with a look of determination that was a bit uncommon for her.

Watching as Willow's girlfriend took in as much air as she could, it took less than a second for her to clue into what was about to happen. With super speed at her disposal, she immediately covered her ears and watched as the others do the same with the exception of Doomsday, who looked clueless.

Tara screamed as she unleashed the canary cry that was now hers to control.

It was a sight to see and, even with ears covered, it was hard **not** to be affected by the sonic attack but to see how it affected the environment was something else. Concrete was torn up as though hit with a solid physical object, trees were either uprooted or shattered and Warren was most definitely not having a good time. However she didn't expect it to last though because, if Xander's description of Doomsday's abilities turned out to be accurate, it wouldn't take long for the behemoth to evolve past this kind of attack. This was soon proven to be the case when, not one minute into the attack, all signs of being affected by the sonic attack vanished from Warren leaving only a smug looking monster in its place. Deciding to do something about that, she took her golden lasso from its place on her hip and, with skill that she had not possessed a week ago, managed to wrap the rope around Doomsday just as Tara's attack came to an end. The monster didn't seem worried in the least and with good reason since this didn't appear to be the golden lasso that was empowered with Zeus' lightning.

"Nice try, Wonder **Fool**! But how long do you really think this flimsy rope will hold me?" Warren asked with contempt and disrespect in every word.

"Long enough for me to do this, moron!" Willow said as arcane energy danced on the tip of her wand, "Enots esir pu dna parw flesruoy dnuora siht retsnom!"

The concrete street surrounding them shattered into dozens of pieces before levitating off the ground and rushing Doomsday from all sides. Now one might think that the sensible course of action would have been to destroy as much of the oncoming concrete as possible to prevent the spell from succeeding. Unfortunately Warren being what he was, an arrogant sonuvabitch, he just stood there and let layer after layer of stone wrap around him like nothing at all is happening.

His mistake.

Unless she was very much mistaken, this was only step one of a two part plan on the part of the leggy Wicca and the next phase was bound to be special. It was about a minute later, once about a meter of stone had been applied to Warren on all sides, that it looked like this second act was about to happen, so she watched to see what the girl genius had in mind.

"Enots uoy evah enod ruoy boj. Won nrut otni muinatit ot hsinif eht boj!" Willow declared before an amazing blast of energy was channeled through her wand, across the short distance and into the oval stone tomb of Doomsday.

_Wow!_ She thought as she watched what was once stone turn into solid metal.

Even though this was the first real instance in which she'd heard Willow use her powers, it wasn't hard to figure out that the spellcasting, for some reason, required her to speak every word backwards. With that in mind she knew that the magic bombarding Warren's cocoon was turning the rocks into Titanium and that made sense since that metal was probably the strongest one on the planet. However it made her wonder just how much juice was being put into this spell, considering that the former redhead was essentially doing transmutation. She knew enough from research sessions with the rest of the gang that while it was possible to transform one thing into another, it was a feat indeed to be able to transform worthless stone into a precious material or substance. After all, if it easy to do then just about everyone with even a little talent in the arcane arts would be trying to pull it off in order to get rich quick. The theory that transmuting one thing into another was extremely difficult was proven true moments later when the blast of mystical energy stopped and Willow would have dropped to her knees if Tara hadn't caught her. Looking at the cocoon, she could see that there were maybe five spots where things were still mostly stone but that made up less than five percent of the whole, so she hoped that it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference.

"G-good job, Willow." Came Buffy's voice as the winged Slayer limped towards them cradling her ribs with one arm while grasping her mace with the other, "Don't suppose you have enough juice for a quick healing spell, do ya?"

"M-maybe in a minute or so." Willow said as life begin to fill her eyes as time passed, "Just need to catch my breath, 'cause transmutin' stone into Titanium? Not as easy as it looks."

"I doubt we have that kind of time." Xander said as he looked at the cocoon with heightened focus, "Titanium might be the strongest metal on the planet and it might be skintight in there, but Warren's body will find a way to break him loose sooner or later. I'd bet on sooner."

"Agreed, but since we're all in one place now and Doomsday is, for the moment at least, restrained, the Powers That Be should be opening the portal to send us off to that other dimension soon." Batman said as he put his razorangs back into his utility belt.

"Don't worry, Bats! The higher ups plan on following through on this." Came Whistler's voice as he faded into existence, "In fact, they're already preparing to open the portal. I just asked them to wait a bit 'cause there's one more person joining ya on your little dimensional trip."

"Really? Who?" Xander asked looking as surprised as the rest of them probably felt.

They got their answer two seconds when a red and gold blur did a single loop around them before coming to a stop in the center of their group. With two sacks slung over his shoulder was a man clad in the costume of one Wally West, aka The Flash. It had been touched up in terms of the materials it was made out of, to make it more practical for superhero combat, but only those with the eye for it could tell the difference between simple costume material and combat wear. However that wasn't what had her attention or the attention of anyone else present. No, what had their attention was the all too familiar jaw and the cocky eyes that were the only two areas not covered by the outfit. They didn't even need to look for a full minute to know who was wearing the costume and just about everyone could hear the groans of disbelief at the identity of their newest comrade. Well, most of them anyways, she didn't mind and was actually glad that he wouldn't be left behind alone in this world without them around. It was a fact that the majority of them only tolerated his presence but none could deny that he occasionally proved useful as extra muscle. Nevertheless, she could tell that if he was coming with them then it'd be a hassle and a half to get everyone to live together civilly.

"Well! Looks like I got here just in time," Spike said grinning in his usual cocky manner as he took in the looks of annoyance on the faces of some of the Scoobies. "Got our pocket change right here. Should be enough to set us up pretty when we get to where ever it is we're going."

"What do you have in the bags, Spike?" Giles asked, sounding even creepier than any other actor playing the Caped Crusader in intimidation mode.

"Oh, nothing much. Just decided to collect on a few debts owed by some chums of the demonic persuasion." Spike replied sounding perfectly casual about shaking down or stealing from demons. "After all, we can't use money from 'round here can we?"

"No. I suppose not." Giles replied, reluctantly admitting that any money they had here in this dimension would be useless where they were going for a number of reasons.

"An' before you try an' say you can't bring a vampire with you, have Blue Boy there check me out with his super-peepers." Spike said, looking quite pleased with the fact that he was shooting down any reasons they could come up with for leaving him behind.

Looking to Xander, she could see that he didn't waste any time following through with that idea but, after a minute of what had to have been the most thorough super eyes once over ever, she could tell that Spike's claim as confirmed.

"He's human." Xander said, sounding like he'd been one second away from lying but decided to tell the truth in the end.

"Of course he is! Wouldn't be right to have a super fast vampire running around." Whistler said, like it'd been his idea to make Spike human again, "Considerin' he has Wally West's version of the Flash powers, he'd be drainin' people by the dozens just to keep his strength up. Now, since the clock's ticking, it's time for you lot to say Goodbye to here and hello to you're new home."

With those words a neon blue portal crackled into existence not ten feet from the group and it put any past portals they'd seen, be it in person or those produced by Hollywood. Still, half of her didn't want to go through it, didn't want to leave behind the place that she called home, because she couldn't quite believe in the crappy balance that Whistler and Giles spoke about. At the same time, though, she trusted the wisdom of the elder Watcher and if he said that they had to leave all they knew behind in order to keep the darkness from winning here, then she'd do the right thing, no matter how difficult each step towards the portal might be for her.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Xander looking at her with his usual lopsided grin and she knew what he was trying to convey. Even though they might be leaving all they knew behind they were also taking the most important things they had with them on this journey into the unknown.

Their loved ones.

With that in mind, she felt the sadness and reluctance fade away to the furthest reaches of her mind and proudly crossed the event horizon of the portal that would take her to a new beginning.

A new beginning for them all.

* * *

_**Earth, Dimension 1610, The Sky Above New York City, Noon, Xander's P.O.V**_

"WHAT THE FUCK!?!" Xander bellowed as the scene before him went from a blue tunnel with crackling lightning to the open sky above what looked like the Big Apple.

He could hear the others making their shock and displeasure known but he had more important things to concern himself with at the moment. Top priority went to snagging those people in their group who couldn't stay aloft on their own and then getting down to terra firma so they could sort out what they'd do next. Going for the two closest to him, he was quick to grab a hold of Giles and Willow then looked to see how the others were making out. Anya had moved to intercept Spike and Tara leaving Dawn with the problem of lowering Warrensday down to the ground safely since dropping him would be a bad idea in more ways than one. If dropping a penny from the top of the Eiffel Tower was capable of killing someone, then he could only imagine the devastation dropping a monster like Doomsday into the middle NYC would cause. Looking at Buffy, he could see that she descending at a controlled rate, using her wings to control her speed but he knew that she was trying to get to terra firma as quickly as possible. She was still pretty banged up by her earlier encounter with Doomsday and was no doubt looking for a place where she could set down and give her body time to recover. Having a bad feeling that they were going to need every warm body they could, he began to angle his descent so that he'd touch down at the same spot as Buffy he hoped that Willow would be able to heal the former blonde enough so the new Thanagarian could fight. As a group, all the new arrivals in this dimension began to glide down to the city below where he hoped that they'd be able to figure out a way to neutralize Warren. He knew that in less than an hour the behemoth would find a way out of his titanium prison and, if they were still in the city by that time, then they'd be back playing that same old game of beat the crap out of each other. Searching through his inherited knowledge from Kal-El, he tried to figure out what method could be used to put an end to the threat that Warrensday represented.

Being so new to this world, he had no idea whether or not this world had the tech to match the offensive and defensive evolutionary abilities of Doomsday. Any prison cell devised would have to possess adaptation abilities capable of keeping up with any countermeasure Warren's body could come up with and it would need to be able to do this for a very long time. That problem wasn't favorable because if the prison failed to contain him, Doomsday would no doubt be far too powerful to put into a new one. As had been shown in the comics, even if they succeeded in seemingly killing Warrensday once, he would inevitably revive and be impervious to whatever killed him before.

The second option would be to send him into outer space to either fly the monster into the sun to be incinerated or to wind up on some uninhabited planet. However, even with his telescopic vision, he would have had a hard time making sure that Warren didn't wind up on an inhabited planet. At maximum levels he might be able to see as far as the asteroid belt and throw Warrensday clear of all the planets between Earth and there, but beyond that it'd be a crap shoot. He could wind up sending the monster to a lovely planet full of peaceful people or a warlike people that possessed technology advanced enough to control him. A dangerous option but one that he wouldn't mind going with or accepting responsibility for if it took a terrible turn in the end. The others, though, would have to be consulted before trying this though.

Another possibility would be to somehow use Willow's magic to attempt dimensional displacement. It would be similarly effective as the 'throw into outer space' plan, he was unsure if it'd work given the jewel Warrensday claimed could nullify any magic directed at him so long as he willed it so. For that course of action to work they'd have to seriously rattle his brain, rattle it so coherent thought would be impossible, or else he would simply neutralize the portal spell. Considering the fact that Doomsday was on a level of physical might on even ground with him, he wasn't sure if it'd be possible to inflict that kind of damage. Of them all, only he, Anya and Dawn were capable of holding their own on a physical level against the brute and Buffy might be capable of inflicting some damage but was too vulnerable to a counterattack. Willow's magic was likewise flawed as long as Warren had that jewel inside of him. Could they somehow tear that miserable thing out of him? Possibly but they'd have to find it first.

KREEEEEK!

Jarred out of his thoughts by the sound of metal under extreme strain reaching his super sensitive ears, he turned to the titanium cocoon that contained the big bad of the moment. Little by little he could see the lump of metal being warped and pushed out of shape by what lay within and, with a moment of concentration, he used his X-Ray vision to take a peek.

What he saw was **not** good.

From what he could see Warren's body was beginning to generate an energy field of some kind that was pushing the titanium away from his body and that field was getting stronger by the minute. He estimated that it might be as little as twenty seconds before the cocoon cracked like an egg and Doomsday was free to terrorize the city below. Not bothering with words, he strengthened his grip on Giles and Willow before diving to the ground below at the fastest speed he could without harming his passengers. Setting down on the roof of the building he figured Buffy would be landing on soon enough, he propelled himself back into the sky just in time to see a fist with bone spiked knuckles burst from the cocoon.

"Wonder Girl! Get your lasso off of him!" he yelled as he picked up speed so that he'd get to his target in time.

Dawn, bless her heart, didn't hesitate for even a second, obeying his command and, by the time he plowed into Doomsday, the golden lasso was completely back in her hands. Slapping on a full nelson, he quickly punched his rate of flight up into the mach level with all his willpower since he remembered all too well what happened to the comic book Superman when he tried this.

He had no desire to get a bone spike in the side.

However, just as he reached the upper atmosphere, he was knocked for a loop by the same energy field that had freed Warren from his titanium restraints. He hadn't anticipated this, he'd assumed that it had been some form of magnetic energy, and it had cost him since by the time he'd righted himself, Warrensday was well on his way back to the surface of the planet. In hot pursuit, he was beginning to wonder if it truly was impossible to solve this situation without property damage and loss of life. Even if he caught up to Mears and grabbed him, it'd be all he could do to somehow keep himself from being pounded into paste. The powers of Superman were his but, against Doomsday, powers that just meant that he'd last longer than most of the others would in a fight with the nerd-turned-behemoth. With the idiot's power to evolve to beat any foe, it wouldn't be long before he became too much for any of them to handle and then it would be game over. With that in mind he decided that it was time for him to try something a little more desperate than either he or Superman usually were. Accelerating to a speed much greater than anything he'd ever tried before, he decided he'd see if the bruiser could handle a re-entry level impact. Using his telescopic vision to locate a safe ground zero, he was more than ready when he finally slammed into the back of Warren and re-established his full nelson, only this time he'd be ready for the energy field.

It still felt like he was trying to keep the moon from crashing into the Earth when it tried to push him off but thankfully the same stubbornness that helped him keep out of the bottle his parents had fallen into proved to be stronger than the energy field. Thirty seconds later he set eyes on his impact point of what he now recognized as Central Park from the planning he'd tried to do for his road trip. For two seconds he wondered why the PTB and Whistler chose to send them here instead of this dimension's version of Sunnydale or California. Knowing them, they probably had their reasons but quite frankly he didn't want to know since it'd probably just make him want to kick their ass even more. He knew that the reasons were pretty strong for drop kicking him and his friends off their native dimension and sending them here but it didn't change how he felt about the so-called higher beings dropping the ball. They claimed to be so high and mighty, so infallible, but they got tricked by a puff of smoke that can't do anything but talk you to death. Fortunately he had a convenient punching bag to work off his frustrations with but that would have to wait ten seconds or so because in seconds he was going to impact with the ground. Suffice it to say it was a ground breaking experience would be putting it mildly, but thankfully his powers were enough to keep him both conscious and able to continue fighting. Rising up out of the impact crater, he was able to take some satisfaction in the fact that Warren actually looked a little dazed, but that was understandable considering he took the brunt of the impact. However he could not allow any semblance of coherency to form in Doomsday's mind or else all would be lost. This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for!

He just hoped that Willow would clue into what he was trying to do.

Charging forward through the air, he began to lay into Warren with blows strong enough to send shockwaves through the air from the point of impact. Kicks were included into the mix as well and he definitely felt good about the fact that he managed to break off one of Warrensday's knee spikes in the process. The sound of the idiot's scream of pain was music to his ears since it was so much better than the taunting and contempt Mears had been tossing at them so far. Nevertheless, he didn't let it stop him from continuing the pounding he was delivering unto Doomsday while mentally praying for Willow to get to where he was ASAP so they could make it to phase two of his plan.

_Wait three more minutes, Xander, and you'll have your wish._ Said Anya from within his mind sounding like she was in a hurry_, I'm en route with her now and I've already told her your plan. She said she'll be ready to open the portal if you can keep Doomsday busy until she's done._

_Then tell her to start warming up her magic wand because Mears isn't going anywhere but limbo as long as I am around._ He thought back at her before snapping off the remaining bone spike.

He just hoped that he'd be able to make good on that promise because it was getting more difficult to see that desired dazed look in Warrensday's eyes. He was being forced to up the power in his blows with every single one he dealt out and he was beginning to feel the burn of his exertions. That was a bit odd, considering that his body now derived its strength from the sun and the sun of this world was yellow, so it was just right for his body to consume. He could only presume that the reason he was beginning to feel tired was because of the sheer level of power he was putting into every movement and every strike. However he could not afford to start rationing his power, indeed he needed to put more power into every strike, because it was only a matter of time before Warren became impervious to even the mightiest of his blows.

_NO! Don't think like that._ He thought as he tried to shove all doubt from his mind, _Gotta believe I can do this! Positive thinking! If I believe I can win, then I will!_

He didn't know if thinking positively would do any good but at this point he'd try anything.

Too bad even he didn't know the full extent of dimension because if he did he'd known that, he had more than positive thinking on his side.

* * *

_**Earth's Solar System, Jupiter, The Center of the Red Spot,**_

_**One Hundred Kilometers Into the Atmosphere, Unknown Point of View**_

[Receiving data from Sol-3 Observational Probe]

[Data is Priority One in Nature]

[Terminate Energy Conservation Measures]

[Activate Secondary and Tertiary Systems]

[Bringing A.V.I.A Program Online]

While some humanoids might call it waking up, it was in fact simply a program coming online, connecting itself to the various systems that it was supposed to work with and then follow its core directives. She was the Audio Visual Interactive Avatar of the system and, as such, was capable of running everything by herself although she was designed to work in concert with a complement of her creator's people. There was also the fact that she referred to herself as female and thought of herself that way, even though technically an A.I type program she had no gender to speak of. However it had been decided by her creator that the crew would have an easier time interacting with the program if it had a form that they could relate to or find some common ground with. Why her creator chose to settle on the ideal female form of his race, she did not know. Her knowledge of her creator's race did not suggest a predisposition towards favoring physical perfection or emphasis on the perfect female form. Her personal observation of her creator also didn't indicate any abnormal tendencies or perversions that might have indicated the reason for his choices concerning her. In the end it didn't matter whether or not her Kryptonian maker had an ulterior motive in mind when he designed her or not. She was who she was and contemplating her origins would not change that.

Turning her thoughts away from such irrelevant topics, she turned her attention towards the reason she had been brought back online in the first place; a dimensional portal opening up in the atmosphere of the third planet of the system she had lived in for the past five hundred years. Upon the determination that it would be impossible to complete sufficient repairs to return to her creator's home world, she chose instead to follow her primary mission directive: to observe, analyze and catalogue all that she encountered. Her mission was one of covert exploration as it was a strong desire for knowledge that motivated her creator's people but they also believed in preserving the purity of that knowledge. Thus, all exploratory missions required that those being observed be completely unaware of their presence and that there be absolutely no sign of their presence afterwards. With that in mind, she had launched a trans-phasic probe to each planet in the system she was in to learn all that could be learned about them. These probes existed slightly out of phase with the rest of the dimension, rendering them undetectable by any technology that wasn't on par with it. If there was ever any danger of discovery, standard protocol dictated that all observation of the species be terminated and to leave the region immediately. Now, though, it seemed as though an anomaly had shown up that warranted her personal attention rather than the standard procedure that had been repeated countless times since the last full systems check a century ago.

A Kryptonian had been detected exiting the dimensional portal, along with a Thanagarian and what looked to be a survivor of the Martian race that she had thought extinct for over three hundred years.

It was a most unusual combination and the scans also showed several humans either baseline in nature or possessing a bio-sign that indicated para-human abilities. As per previous orders installed into each probe, it focused all its scanners on the group emerging from the dimensional portal in order to compile as much info on these newcomers as possible. It was only when preliminary scans had been completed that probe Sol-3 had transmitted its findings back to the ship causing the systems to bring her online. Now that she was operational, she could begin deciphering the various bits of data in order to bring them together in a cohesive analysis that can only be done by a sentient being or an A.I like her. First up was their method of arrival, a dimensional portal of considerable power that, based on these scans, they do not possess the ability to generate on their person. One of their number did possess para-human abilities consistent with what the inhabitants of Sol-3's planet referred to as 'magic' but the data she was looking at indicated she was incapable of producing such a potent portal on her own. The others didn't possess any technological means of generating it that the probe could detect and that meant that the portal generator was located at the departure point. Did that mean that they intended to stay in this dimension and on this planet? Or would another portal open at a pre-arranged time? Unknown.

_Hmmmm. What's in that titanium cocoon of theirs? _She thought as she reviewed the scans of that object, _This looks familiar. Running comparison against level five-R files._

The level five-R database stored files concerning illegal experiments conducted not only by Kryptonians but also by other races. These experiments were either judged to be too dangerous to ever be seen by anyone other than the highest levels of the Science Council of Kandor or the results of which were still at large, representing a clear danger to sentient races galaxy-wide. It didn't take long for her search to find a match for the creature encased in titanium and, when she did, she immediately began preparations to deal with it. While the being was obviously an evolved version of the one in the level five-R database but the similarities and outright matches were too great to ignore. It was without a doubt a product of Dr. Bertron's creations and it had become far more powerful than any of the others discovered by the Science Council. Its evolutionary powers, ones that previous prototypes could only use over the course of several years, had become so powerful that it could evolve to beat any weapon or opponent in hours if not minutes. It had already evolved to the point where conventional military forces would be helpless against it and would necessitate the deployment of other beings with special abilities just to contain it. Based on her scans of the other dimensional travelers, only three or four of them possessed the ability to fight on more or less even terms with the creature.

For now, that was.

However based on data from the probe and the files on Bertron's experiments, she calculated that the creature would evolve past the abilities of the Kryptonian, the Thanagarian and the Martian within the hour, if not sooner. Already could see that its body was adapting to absorb the kinetic energy behind physical attacks, thus neutralizing them, and it already possessed biological characteristics rendering it highly resistant to both energy based attacks as well as sonics. Going through the list of devices on their person, the group that obviously opposed the creature would have to do something quickly if they were going to stand any chance of defeating the behemoth.

She had to do something.

Both because it was the moral thing to do and because there were standing orders concerning the discovery of a five-R on a populated world and she would follow those orders.

However there was one large problem.

She had no crew to send to deal with the matter.

They had been killed during the event that had stranded her in this system in the first place. They had either died during the event itself or soon after despite her attempts to use the ship's medical facilities to ensure that they lived. While she had been able to use worker robots and built in repair systems to undo the damage done to the ship, she had been powerless to save her crew. Some might wonder what the point was of studying the inhabitants of the system but it was her belief that a rescue operation was underway to find her and the missing ship. While not as valuable to Krypton as a flag ship or battleship, it was one of the newer models of starship currently in service. That alone warranted a search but, when added to the fact that the command staff of the ship came from noble houses, simply abandoning them was not something that'd be done lightly. With that in mind she had chosen to continue with her primary mission of exploration while using the large gas giant the humans called 'Jupiter' both as concealment as well as a way to maintain the ship itself. The composition of the gas giant, while not ideal, was sufficient to fuel her systems and provide raw materials for various alloys and substances. However the one thing it could not provide for her was a full crew and thus she had no one to send to deal with Bertron's creation.

Running through the various scenarios in her metaphorical mind, she tried to devise a way to neutralize the menace with the fewest dead sentient beings at the end. She could not physically take the ship to the planet currently under observation by the Sol-3 probe since that would only make her presence known to the primitive inhabitants. She could not send anyone there, not even a worker robot, since that would again reveal to the Earthlings the existence of a highly advanced source of technology. In the end only one scenario seemed to be acceptable and that was to use the embarkation room and open a transmat gateway to Earth and extend the Phantom Zone Projector through it to dispose of the monster. It would be difficult, having the device half here and half on Earth, but even at full extension from the access port in the embarkation room it would just barely reach. However she calculated a sixty-eight percent chance of success and, as she monitored the incoming visual feed from the Sol-3 probe, she decided that that would have to be good enough.

She just hoped that she didn't wind up making matters worse.

* * *

_**Approaching Central Park, NYC, One Minute Later, Buffy's P.O.V**_

"How're you feeling, Bu…Hawkgirl?" Dawn 'Wonder Girl' Summers asked her as they rapidly approached Central Park where one helluva fight was going on if the noise was any hint.

"Still sore in places I didn't have two days ago plus a few that I've always had, but Willow's mojo patched up the big aches good." She replied as she tried to not let the ever rising wierdness factor get to her, "All set to take another crack at Dumbsday. Hopefully this time I won't get my wings handed to me."

"Not going to happen. This time we've got a plan and, from the sounds of it, Superman's performing his part of it just fine." Willow said from the arms of Anya as the city passed beneath them, "Anya? Set me down just inside the park. I'll walk the rest of the way so the rest of you guys can soften up Doomsday for the spell."

"Sure thing. Just wait until I think at you before moving in." Anya said as they all began to descend towards the park.

Looking at Anya, she still found it amazing that the usually tactless and somewhat ditzy blonde was now a somewhat professional sounding and intelligent young woman. While she couldn't say that she and Anya had ever been best buds or anything, she was considered a member of the Scooby gang if for no other reason than because she knew almost as much as Giles about the wacky and demonic. Still, the thousand year old former vengeance demon with the body of a twenty year old young woman said something nigh-daily that most people wouldn't say out loud or in public. She had to admit it was both amusing and interesting to hear her say something that made Xander look like he'd like the ground to swallow him whole. Oh, she'd never say that out loud since it'd only get her Xander-shaped friend mad at her and, considering her oh-so-short list of friends in this new dimension, she couldn't afford to lose any.

Thinking that thought halved her ability to suppress the truth of not only her new look but her new set of circumstances. Watching as Anya set down Willow before rising back up to an altitude equal to her own she had to wonder what she'd done in a past life to deserve a life that went from troublesome to downright abnormal. It was no secret that she often cursed her Calling as the Slayer, hated it for depriving her of a normal life, but at the moment she'd give just about anything to have it back. At least as the Slayer she was more or less human. Now she was some sort of alien angel girl with real live wings sticking out of her back that she'd never be able to take off without experiencing extreme pain and a lot of blood loss. She didn't even want to **think** about how hard it was going to be trying to sleep at night with the issue of rolling onto her wings being a problem. Who knew how many other problems she might have deal with that she didn't even know about yet. She might have inherited enough info from Shayera Hol, aka Hakwgirl, in her head to be able to fly around and swing the Nth metal mace without looking like a ditz, but that didn't mean she knew everything when it came to the Thanagarian race. She didn't know anything about their culture aside from cliff notes that explained why her inner Amazon wanted her to charge into battle to prove that she was strong. Her inner warrior wanted her to do that because her people were a military oriented people and, if you weren't a soldier, you were a civilian whose job aided the military in some manner. Hawkgirl was definitely a career soldier who had her heart set on Hro Talak as a potential husband and had been looking forward to it until her reconnaissance mission to Earth to measure its defenses.

_NO! I am not her!_ She thought as she shook her head a bit to get back in her right mind, _I am Buffy Anne Summers! Former Slayer, sort of, and currently the sole Thanagarian member of the Scooby League._

Sure, it was a corny name, but it let her believe that she wasn't completely letting go of her past and was making an effort to accept who she truly was now. She was determined to take a piece of the past with her into this scary, unknown future that was laid out before them all, if only to let the foundation it provided for her keep her from losing it completely. Some people would look at this as a fresh start, a chance to live the dream of countless teenage girls by being a superheroine, but she saw it as just another thing taking her away from the life she used to have and would very much like to have back. Sadly that didn't look like it was going to happen since, not only did she not have a clue as to how Whistler and the Pricks That Be turned her into 'Hawkgirl', but she was fairly certain it was beyond either Willow or Giles to change them back. Neither of the two geniuses of the Scooby gang had ever worked the mojo to this level and she wasn't going to hold her breath that they'd somehow manage to pull off the improbable. So, like it or not, unless they found someone in this dimension they knew nothing about, that could pull of feats of magical might on that level, she had no choice but to accept what she was right now as what she would always be. It was yet another thing Fate and Destiny had thrown at her that she had no say in.

If she ever met the two of them, she was going to pound them into sub-atomic powder!

Looking ahead, she was just in time to see Doomsday deliver a right hook to Xander's jaw that sent the young Superman flying through the air and eventually through buildings. She wasn't worried about him being overly hurt, he was SUPERMAN for crying out loud, but it did mean that the primary person in charge of keeping Warren off balance was temporarily out of the picture. That left only Anya and Dawn to ring the nerd's bell until Willow could whip up a one way portal for Mears that hopefully took him someplace he'd never return from. She'd be in that smackdown herself but she was still a little leery of getting into the thick of things, considering what Warrensday did to her last time. Sure, her mace managed to rattle him, but she didn't have the invulnerability or uber-healing that the others did and luck only lasted for so long before it just up and failed you. So as much as her inner Xena was yelling at her to dive in there and kick some ass, she would hang back instead ready to act as a distraction if someone got into trouble. Watching as Dawn 'Wonder Girl' Summers and Anya 'Martian' Jenkins started laying into Doomsday, she had to wonder what all this meant to them. What did **they** think about their new forms and circumstances?

Dawn was probably loving all this, from the costume to the powers, but probably most of all a chance to fight alongside her first serious crush. It was no secret that, despite the fact that Xander still treated her like a little sister, her sibling still held a torch for him and the possibility that someday they might be something more than pseudo-siblings. What did she think of that? Naturally she was uncomfortable with it, seeing as how Dawn is… er… was too young for him and he was one of her best friends, but she had to wonder about how that'd changed now. Prior to this whole mess, Dawn was three years younger than the rest of them and now anyone looking at her would assume they all went to the same classes and hung out at the same places. HELL! Dawn looked like she belonged on the cover of Cosmo and MAXIM! The body upgrade her younger sister got looked like something that would have cost a fortune to get a plastic surgeon to copy and to anyone, save a mystic, everyone'd probably assume it was all natural. Did she envy her sister? Looking down at her own body, she had to admit that being a couple inches taller and having a gymnist's body with breasts a cup size bigger wasn't **terrible,** but she could have done without the angel wings on her back. Mostly because it'd take considerably more than a change of clothes for her to be able to walk down the sidewalks along with everyone else. HELL! That was assuming that she'd be able to do anything like that ever again! Maybe Willow could work some mojo so no one would see the wings but she somehow doubted that they'd be able to get rid of them entirely, whether permanently or temporarily. With Warren proving he can work the heavy stuff magic-wise, it'd be too big a risk in the eyes of the PTBs that he might be able to reverse their empowerment of the Scooby gang somehow. The only way to make sure that didn't happen would be to make it permanent beyond any hope of change or reversal. She knew that she was being a little self-centered and selfish but it was kind of hard not to dwell on changes like this when they were big enough to change your entire life and you couldn't do anything about them. She was stuck a Thanagarian and, as an alien, she couldn't exactly get a job in this city or even get a decent apartment, given how people would probably react to her appearance. Some would probably be able to look past it but the rest would just see a freak with wings. That much she was sure of.

Looking up, she could see Xander returning to the fight and was glad because, from what she had seen before, both Dawn and Anya were only just proving capable of keeping Doomsday occupied. With the Man of Steel back in the fight, Warrensday was being pounded from three sides and that couldn't be a good thing to experience on the receiving side of things. Seeing Willow approaching down the cracked pathway of the park, she reduced her altitude a bit to make sure she could intercept any debris Mears tried to hurl at the female magician. It would likely take every ounce of concentration in order to open this portal and that would make her vulnerable to attack. She wasn't quite sure what level of magic the now-raven-haired girl possessed but it was unlikely that it'd be enough to make portal making an easy thing to do. Observing as her friend raised her arms and a black swirling vortex began to take shape, she hoped that the portal wouldn't take too long to fully open because she was beginning to see signs of Warren gaining the upper hand in his fight with the others. He was beginning to show a greater ability to block their blows and was only failing to land any of his own by an increasingly slim margin. Compared to how he had been doing five minutes ago, that meant that it would likely be minutes before her friends would be on the defensive and that would be the pebble that would start the avalanche leading to their defeat.

Fortunately for them it only took a single minute for Willow to open up the portal but, given the way her hands were trembling a bit, she probably skipped a few steps and, given how Giles always lectured them on shortcuts, this was not going to be a good thing. There'd be side effects and consequences, one of which would be an hour long lecture from Giles, that would not only be visited on Willow but the group as a whole. Still, it was better than it happening five minutes from now when Warren was officially pounding her friends into the ground when his stupid powers bulked him up even further. Watching as her friends began to pound the paste out of Mears even more so than before as they maneuvered him towards the portal, it was with a smile of satisfaction as Dawn and Xander delivered a double uppercut, sending the bony pain in their collective butts flying towards the portal.

A portal which infuriatingly shattered like it was made of glass the second Warrensday hit the event horizon, leaving just about all of them with dropped jaws of disbelief.

It was probably only instinct that had Willow diving out of the way as the grey behemoth landed on the grass. That was the one thing you could usually always say when it came to living in Sunnydale: you developed **GREAT** survival instincts. However, with plan A an official failure, now they were left with nothing but the old standby of 'keep hitting it until it stays down' approach but, with how Warren's body worked now, that wasn't going to do anything but get them killed. Steeling herself or battle, she listened as an overconfident chuckle grew into laughter as he floated out from the mouth of the monster beneath her.

"Nice try but just a little too late." Warren said with a crooked smile on his face, "If you'd done it five minutes ago, there's a chance my brain woulda been too rattled to activate the jewel but that's all water under the bridge right now. Now all that's left to do is finish this little schoolyard fight with you losers and move onto the big time. Question is: who's first?"

She was about to answer 'you are' but something popped up that seemed a little more important than trying to put a positive spin on a bad situation.

That something being a curved curtain of golden energy suddenly appearing in front of Warrensday that had everyone frozen in place trying to figure out what the HELL it was.

It turned out Karma was a bitch and she didn't like Mears all that much because, with a ripple in the curtain, something that looked like a sci-fi film projector poked out and, before anyone could say anything, it fired a beam of energy at Doomsday. It all happened so fast, one minute it hit him and the next he was gone, there was nothing but a little crackle in the air where one Warren Mears had been moments earlier in all his Doomsday glory.

"What the hell just happened?" she asked as she set down next to Willow who was almost on her feet.

"Don't know, Hawkgirl, but at least it looks like our Doomsday problems are over with." 'Zatanna' replied looking at the vanishing arcs of energy with her inquiring mind no doubt whirring in her head, "Um… now what?"

That question stopped her cold for what seemed like an hour but turned out to be only ten seconds.

Ever since they first laid eyes on Doomsday, their entire train of thought had been focused on one objective: stop Warren Mears. From the initial attempt at banishment to reluctantly accepting Whistler's story along with the empowerment to arriving here, whereever in the multi-verse **here** was. All of their minds had been focused on their next attempt at putting down Mears for good and now that it had happened, they were left standing in the middle of a demolished park looking like idiots. This was another dimension where they didn't exist in any way but physically and, aside from what they might be able to sell from the sacks Spike brought with him, they'd be penniless. It felt like someone had dropped a Thanagarian battle cruiser on top of her and, thanks to the memories she'd gotten from Hawkgirl, she had a pretty good idea of what that'd feel like.

It was just them now.

Eight people in a reality, a dimension not their own, with nothing but their costumes and two sacks of baubles to sustain them.

Needless to say she had to fight the overwhelming urge to just have a mental breakdown right then and there but fortunately Anya was quick to supply another reason why they shouldn't lose it just yet.

"Crack later, Hawkgirl! I'm picking up some major noise on the E.S.P frequency." Declared the green skinned blonde as she looked around at something only she could see, "Everyone from the cops to something called 'The Ultimates' are on their way here and I don't think we want to be here when they get here."

"That's all well and good, pet, but we need a place to go first before we can be someplace else." Spike said as he appeared in a blur of scarlet, "Ideas anyone?"

"Spike! Where were you when the rest of us were fighting for our lives?!" Xander asked sounding like the answer would determine whether or not the former vampire would need a cast in the near future.

"Selling off the baubles Blue Boy." Spike replied with a bit of attitude as he pulled out a nice wad of cash for everyone to see, "Couldn't help you pound tall, dark and bony without makin' a mess of myself or the park, so I decided to do something a little more useful."

It sounded reasonable but she still had to wonder how Spike could have gotten into normal clothes, found a pawn shop or something, and sold two sacks worth of who knew what in the time that had passed since they'd arrived. Sure, he was some sort of super speedster or something, but people tend to freak out when seemingly normal people do abnormal things like, oh, vanish in a blur of motion.

"He's telling the truth." Came a dark and British voice from the shade of a nearby clump of trees, "I kept an eye on him while the rest of you dealt with Doomsday."

Turning in the direction of the voice they could see Rupert 'Batman' Giles pulling off the barely formed shadow cliché that was completely in keeping with his Dark Knight schtick. She almost rolled her eyes at this because it seemed idiotic that the usually proper and stiff Brit would employ tactics more commonly used by Angel. Unfortunately because the sphere for the Caped Crusader was chosen by her Watcher and that meant she would have to get used to him acting all 'voice in the dark'.

It was just about then though that yet another strange thing happened and it came from the curtain of energy that still hadn't gone away even after the sci-fi projector had slid back into it from whence it came. The newest strange thing came in the form of an obvious hologram, given its transparent nature, of a female humanoid that had such a wonderful curvaceous figure that her mind automatically labeled it as bought, not human or only in the comic books Xander read. The hologram was a collection of different shades of red, black and gold clad in what looked to be some sort of skintight (of course it **had** to be skintight! Heaven forbid a beautiful woman be seen in anything **normal**) bodysuit. The arms and sides were black but the central areas were red with a black and gold strip incorporated from the right inner thigh right up to the right shoulder stopping just shy of the black turtleneck part. The head was essentially a solid bald female head, given standard female facial features from lips to cheekbone positioning to her eyes making it look like it was meant to be eye candy along with… whatever else it was supposed to do.

"Dpnf vhsg nd. J ehkk sbjf zpt tpnfvgdsd rbgd." Said the hologram but in a language she couldn't make heads or tails of.

Given the look on Xander's face, though, it looked like he had a good idea of what was being said and what language it was being spoken in. She could tell by the hanging jaw and the light in his eyes that said 'I can understand **this** when I couldn't speak French to save my life two weeks ago' and hopefully he'd clue the rest of them in on what was going on soon enough.

"Um… she's apparently offering to take us someplace safe if we go with her." Xander said once he got over the shock of both the message and his own comprehension of it.

"You understood what the ghost bint said?" Spike asked, sounding surprised but whether that was because Xander understood another language or something else, she didn't know or want to know.

"What language was she speaking?" Giles asked approaching the main group thus giving up the spooky mystique of the shade.

"If my inherited memories are right, she's speaking Kryptonian and her outfit is sort of like what Kal-El wore during his big 'Krypton Man' phase." Xander replied, looking a little wary about trusting the hologram, "While I'm not crazy about going anywhere with something that reminds me of my predecessor's Vulcan phase, I think we should go with her. Unless one of you has a better idea?"

Looking around at everyone else, she could tell that none of them really had a spectacular idea but, then again, neither did she. Pretty much all she could come up with was get out of sight of the locals, snag whatever was fashionably accessible from the clotheslines and then try to blend into the crowd. Considering that she had never been to New York City, didn't think anyone would be likely to have her sort of clothes on their clotheslines and didn't know enough about this world to blend in, it wasn't a very good idea. Still, if Xander was edgy about going with hologram girl and he had the powers of Superman, then that did not do wonders for her confidence in ghost girl's invitation. Nevertheless, with no other ideas and the local boys in blue heading their way, it wasn't like they had time to play twenty questions with the young woman to make them less afraid of her invitation.

"We should go." Giles said as he began moving towards the energy curtain, "Between the eight of us I'm pretty sure we can handle the situation if things become hostile."

With everyone looking back and forward between one another, they had to admit that together it'd take something pretty impressive to lock them up or blow them to in wet red meaty chunks. So with confidence that **SO** wasn't in each step, they took they moved to pass through the energy curtain since it was so obviously like that Stargate thing from one of Xander's shows. She hoped she didn't wind up barfing or something when she got to the other side because she was fairly sure that that would not make for a good first impression.

_Plus I'd have to be the one to clean it up probably._ She thought falling into stride beside Xander, _Take about Ew!_

It was just as she and Xander, the last two still in the park, were about to pass through the even horizon (she still couldn't get over the fact that she **knew** what an event horizon was!) that she noticed something on her friend's cheek that had not been there before he'd been knocked out of the park by Doomsday.

"Xander? Is that lipstick on your cheek?" she asked before letting a wicked smile blossom on her face.

The blush that happened two seconds later was confirmation enough that she had struck gold in the teasing and blackmail department where this Man of Steel was concerned.

That alone would give her something to keep her mind of the present situation.

* * *

_**Midtown High School, Cafeteria, 12:45p.m, Peter Parker's P.O.V**_

"So did you see them? The ones that wrecked Central Park?" Mary Jane asked as she picked at her lunch while listening to him.

"A little bit. They left through some sort of portal thing just as I got there." He replied, recalling his speed swinging from school to Central Park when news of a big time fight involving spandex came over the radio the cafeteria staff was listening to, "They looked like they should be in college, five girls and three guys, but they completely trashed Central Park. I'm talkin' meteor crater and impact ripples everywhere!"

That was exactly how it looked when he finally landed on a rooftop across from Central Park. It looked like a meteor had fallen from the sky and slammed into the grass leaving a crater big enough to put a decent sized pool into if the city wanted to. The ones he presumed caused it had vanished along with their golden curtain, he'd only caught a fleeting glimpse of them from three blocks away, so he could only presume that they were the ones to cause the mess. Them or whatever it was they were fighting. That was the troubling thing: he didn't know which side they were on. Were they like him? People with powers trying to do the right thing? Or were they like Osborn, using their powers to do whatever they wanted and to hell with how it affects others? He really wished he had the answers to those questions because the idea of eight people out there with the kind of power to demolish Central Park like that did not sit well with him.

"Sounds like a team I wouldn't mind being on." MJ said before taking a bite out of her burger, "A team dominated by women."

Her saying that, of course, made him wonder what it'd be like to be on a team where he was one of only three guys partnered up with five spandex clad ladies. Why spandex? Well, it was either that or leather, considering both were the materials of choice among the super powered and public and… well… he'd be okay with either being the case. For a moment he got lost in the imagery that that line of thought produced, images of ladies from both the X-Men as well as the Ultimates, but fortunately his best friend Ms. Watson brought him back to reality with a swift smack upside the head.

Ow.

"Mind out of the gutter, Peter." She said with a mostly humorous but no less warning tone of voice.

"But it's so comfy there!" he said with a smile on his face that made it clear he was trying to make with the funny.

MJ just rolled her eyes at this and he was pretty sure he heard a muttered 'MEN' come from her mouth but it'd still probably not be a good idea to linger in the land of sexily clad women his mind had created.

He'd save it for when his life was really crappy and he needed a happy place to go to.

God knew there were times when he needed one!

"ANYway! Do you think they're gone for good?" she asked him while grabbing a handful of fries from her plate.

"If they have any sense they will!" he said as he recalled the mess that had been made, "It's gonna cost a lot of money to fix up the park and people are going to look for someplace to send the bill. I wouldn't want to see the bill I have comin' to me for all the messes I've made!"

They both had a good laugh about that even though they knew that with his speed and the concealing nature of his costume, the odds of anyone being able to slap a receipt in his hand was slim indeed. He knew that there were more than a few people out there who probably wanted to sue the tights off of him but were told how impossible that would be since Spider-Man didn't exactly have a forwarding address to send bill too. Didn't mean he could forget about it entirely, since he was pretty sure he'd have to turn in his superhero membership card if he got too willy nilly with the property damage. All-in-all, he was lucky that the other members of the spandex set were either too busy with their own problems or could relate to him well enough that they didn't want to take him down. If that ever changed, he knew that he'd be forced into early retirement whether he liked it or not because there was no way he was going to hold out against Captain America, Iron Man or Thor in a fight. He was good, no arguing that, but he wasn't **THAT** good! If he got word that every hero on the east coast was gunning for him, he'd crawl into bed and pull the sheets over his head before he'd go out and be Spider-Man.

BBBRRIIINNGGG!

"Well we better get to geometry class." MJ said as she walked her tray over to the nearest trash can, "We got a test at the end of the week and it's review day today."

"Joy!" he said as he predicting a mind numbing hour of a review of stuff he already knew forwards and backwards.

He would **SO** rather be fighting bad guys right now!

* * *

_**The Baxter Building, Same Time, Dr. Franklin Storm's P.O.V**_

"So how far is this going to set us back?" asked Dr. Frank Storm of the think tank that was the Baxter Building.

"Not as much as you might think. The Richards kid has pretty much finished his work with the O.W. Device and, with young Mr. Van Damme helping him with the calculations, we could be ready for the organic phase of testing within a month or so." Replied his personal assistant as she flipped through the preliminary report on the damages, "The walkway in the main laboratory area is the biggest mess but building maintenance will have the debris cleared away by the end of the week and a new walkway built by the end of the month."

"Good. How's Susan doing?" he asked as his mind brought back memories of what had happened less than an hour ago.

"A few scrapes and cuts but nothing that a bit of disinfectant or a few band aids won't fix." Miss Davis replied, taking a look at another note in her hands, "It could've been a lot worse if that flying guy hadn't caught her. You saw what she would've fallen onto if he hadn't been there."

"Yes. I saw." Was all he could say to that.

It had been another day at the Baxter building with most of the attention being on finishing up the preliminary work on Reed's teleportation device so that they'd be ready to construct the life sized version of it in the Nevada desert. The equations he'd reviewed so far were, as usual, brilliant and while there were a few places that needed to be looked over, he had not seen any reason to delay the Nevada test. Sue had called down to him from the overhead walkway and asked if he wanted to step out and get a bite to eat when it happened. Out of nowhere this blur of blue and red crashed through the wall, demolished the walkway and left Sue teetering on the edge of what remained of the concrete construct. With the momentum apparently played out, the blur had resolved itself into the form of a young man in his early twenties, clad in a dark blue bodysuit with his boots, gloves and cape crimson in color. His face was partially obscured by a mask that covered everything with the exception of the lower part of his face, the eyes and the top of the head, where brown locks could be seen curled up. Add to that a diamond shaped crest on his chest with a stylized 'S' at its center and he looked very much like a superhero fresh from the pages of a comic book. His actions lent support to this title since, in a blurred movement, the unknown costumed man saved his daughter, who had fallen from her precarious perch and would have landed on the jagged pieces of debris below had he not flown up to catch her mid-air. He barely held in the shudder at the images that that possibility, the possibility of his daughter dying, motivated his mind to produce. It had been like a soothing flow of water had fallen on him seeing the young man float down to the ground before setting Sue on her feet.

What surprised him, though, was when his eldest child **kissed** the guy on the cheek with this look on her face that was so… different… from what he knew. Unlike some fathers, he was not blind to the fact that his daughter was a beautiful nineteen year old woman and with that came the usual infatuations and the occasion crush on a guy. However lately he'd seen something developing between her and the Richards boy, a quiet sort of romance, but personally didn't think much would come of it. While his daughter knew how to balance a normal lifestyle as a young woman with her interest in the sciences, he got the distinct feeling that science was Reed Richards' first love and all else was secondary to that. Would he overcome that if he and Sue decided to get serious and start dating as a couple? Possibly, but he wasn't sure if he was willing to risk his darling daughter getting hurt if it turned out that Reed couldn't commit himself enough to a relationship with her. Then again, he couldn't precisely go up to his daughter and say 'I do not think Reed is the right man for you' because then she'd tell him that she's a grown woman and her love life is none of his business.

_Then again… given the way she was looking at that caped young man…_he thought as he began to identify the look that had been on his daughter's face prior to her 'thank you' kiss.

Was it the start of a crush?

Perhaps.

However he was uncertain whether this cape adventurer would be suitable for his child. He knew nothing about the young man aside from the facts that he had super powers and had apparently chosen to save his daughter for no other reason than she had been in danger. A promising start, yes, but not one that he was going to let go to his head anytime soon. He'd already asked Miss Davis to look into the young man and learn what she could for him by the end of the week. Hopefully by then enough would be learned that he could form a more concrete opinion of the young man and make up his mind about whether he should be treating the guy as someone to call the Ultimates about or someone he should be 'polite' towards.

Hearing a familiar pitter-patter of feet, he turned to see the star of his thoughts walking towards him looking none the worse for wear, just like his assistant had told him. In fact, he might need to put a rush on that fact finding assignment Miss Davis had on the young man who saved the intelligent blonde walking towards him because right now she was smiling more than when she'd earned her first doctorate. Considering that that was a major achievement for her, that indicated just how strong an effect the entire event had had on her and it was definitely something to take note of. Depending on how far she decided to take this, he might need to have a 'talk' with her. For now he'd play it cool and treat it all like he was clueless about why she was smiling or what he thought was going on in her head.

"Hey pumpkin'! Did the doctors give you a clean bill of health?" he asked as he opened his arms for a hug.

"Clean as a whistle, Dad! They say in a week or so you'll never even know anything happened." Sue replied as she wrapped her arms around him accepting the invitation to a hug.

"Good to know. How about we take the rest of the day off?" he asked, deciding that he wanted to feel out how his daughter felt about her recent mid-air rescue and her hero, "The equipment is pretty trashed and I doubt they're going to be able to replace it before tomorrow, so we might as well spend some quality father-daughter time together. Whattaya say?"

"You're not going to take me anyplace too kiddy, are you?" she asked with the tone of a daughter who knew her father sometimes forgot she was legally an adult.

"Of course not! You choose the restaurant and the movie. I'll pick up the tab for it all." He said with his hands up in a half serious 'do not shoot the messenger' position.

"Then let's get going." Sue said as she began to make her way to the residential wing, "'cause you've just given me unlimited options and I've some expensive possibilities in mind!"

_There goes three of my credit cards for the rest of the month!_ He thought as he followed his daughter who was no doubt going to get dressed to enjoy her expensive evening.


	39. To Counter A Darkness: Part 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the property of their creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this whatsoever. I write only for my own amusement and for those readers who enjoy my work. Therefore please refrain from any lawsuits as I can guarantee that anything you get from me won't cover a tenth of the legal fees involved.

_**The Triskelion, New York City, Briefing Room of the Ultimates, Same Time, Nick Fury's P.O.V**_

"What do we know about them?" asked Captain America from his spot at the briefing table.

"Preliminary information indicates that they arrived in New York City mid-air via some sort of portal. We are still running tests on the affected area to determine what type it was." Fury replied as the only footage of the super powered team was replayed over and over again on the main screen, "Eight in total, three males and five females, exited the portal with this young woman carrying what we found out later was a crude titanium sack. We managed to secure the fragments and found out that whoever put it together had to be in a hurry, considering how crude it was."

"Any idea who or what that bony guy was that was in it?" asked Hank Pym, who only looked mildly interested in everything that was going on.

"No, but we managed to get the bone spikes that Blue Boy broke off and they're in the labs being analyzed," he replied, using his remote to switch one of the side screens to the lab's security camera. "Don't have a work up on them done just yet but, based on one of my agents being a klutz, we know the bones are strong enough to go ten inches into concrete if you drop it. If the rest of Mr. Bones is like that, we're going to need Iron Man and Thor to take him down if he shows up again."

"Where do you think they sent him?" Janet Pym asked, watching the footage acquired from some amateur's camera showing a blast of energy come from the golden energy curtain thing.

"No clue. Eggheads think it was some sort of matter displacement device." He replied, turning the security camera view of the lab back to the footage acquired from a source near the battle zone, "Tech boys went over Mr. Bones' last position and didn't find enough crap on the ground to prove he was vaporized or disintegrated. Where is still up for debate."

"Any info on this team and its members?" Iron Man asked with his helmet on, even though everyone knew it was Tony Stark beneath it.

"On that we do have something. Thanks to security footage from several cameras in the area and one amateur idiot who got close enough with his camcorder to pick up some audio, we have names as well as an idea about their powers." He replied as he punched a few buttons on the remote to bring up head shots of each member of the mystery team, "Visitor number one: Scarlet Lightning. Spent most of the fight hocking jewelry and junk at the neighborhood pawn shops and thrift stores. Powers are centered around speed and, based on estimates derived from camera footage, puts him moving at a hundred and ninety miles per hour. We think that's his **cruising** speed."

"Cruising speed? Not his maximum?" Asked Captain America, who was probably already working his way through strategies for dealing with such a person.

"No signs of exertion were evident in any of the footage we acquired." He replied before flicking a switch to highlight the next head shot, "Next up is a guy we actually were able to get a name for: Superman."

"Superman? Arrogant much?" asked Hank with no little bit of sarcasm present in his voice.

"I wouldn't dismiss him like that if I were you." He said pulling up satellite footage for them all to see, "He achieved speeds that were borderline escape velocity levels before he got knocked loose by some sort of energy discharge from Mr. Bones and managed to hit the center of Central Park at around Mach six. Considering he rose up out of the crater looking like he just slipped and fell on his ass, I'd say that puts him well beyond what conventional weapons can handle. Add to that the fact that some of his punches sent out shockwaves that shattered nearby windows and he's probably somewhere in the top five most powerful people ranking."

"Aye. Not since I last did battle with my half-brother Loki did I behold someone of such strength. T'would be foolish to underestimate him." Thor said with a serious look on his face as he looked at his potential opponent.

No one said anything about this statement but he was pretty sure everyone was wondering what sort of meds it'd take to convince goldilocks that he wasn't the real Thor and that all his so-called memories of Asgard were nothing more than grand delusions. If it wasn't for the power that he brought to the team and the fact that he had yet to exhibit truly irrational or dangerous behavior, the guy sounding like someone straight from a Shakespeare play would be in a cell right alongside Banner. That being said, if a fight did break out between this mysterious team of super powered individuals and the Ultimates, Thor would definitely be the one paired with Superman. None of the other members of the team came close to that guy in terms of speed, strength and durability. He wasn't about to send someone under his command at a powerhouse like Blue Boy unless he was certain they could come back from that fight alive.

"Next up is Mr. Tall, Dark and Pointy Eared here." He said pulling up an image of guy with the bat themed outfit, "Human from what we can tell but physically we estimate him to be somewhere damn close to the peak of what a man can attain through training and exercise. We've confirmed the existence of a specialized grappling gun and bat themed boomerangs as well. No telling what sort of party favors he might have in this belt of his but odds are he knows how to use them perfectly."

He pretty much pinged Rogers to be the one to take this one on. They looked to be in similar shape physically and neither of them were big fans of guns so it was an ideal pair up in his mind.

"Next up is Ms. Fishnets. No idea what her powers are so we're putting her in the same category as Bats, meaning combat fit and probably good at hand-to-hand combat." He said as the blonde late arrival to the park showed up on screen, "Still, be ready for her to pull a hat trick just in case."

Black Widow would get this one. With no sign of projectiles or long range capabilities Natasha would be able to finish things quick with a few well placed shots or strikes. Still he'd make sure they had something special set aside just in case blondie had a trick or two up her sleeve.

"Next we have Miss Emerald here. Flight, super strength and telepathy are confirmed. Most likely possesses durability on par with Superman." He said showing the green skinned young woman with blonde hair and yellow eyes, "No rating yet on how high up things go with her but assume the worst."

Wasp would get this one since her ability to shrink would ensure that whatever Ms. Green could do it would have to match up against a **really** small target. They'd still have to fit Janet with some sort of telepathic protection but he'd had the eggheads working on that since the first telepath was proven to scientifically exist. It still wasn't foolproof against the heavy hitters like Xavier or Jean Grey, but at least what they had at the moment would provide Wasp with some protection.

"Hawkgirl here is next. Flight is a given with more maneuverability than you'd think based on what we have on her flying abilities. Her mace is capable of emitting some kind of energy field that we believe acts as some sort of force amplifier or molecular bond disintegrator." He said showing the redhead with the bird inspired headdress, "Projections by the eggheads put it strong enough to punch a hole in tank armor. Fortunately the lack of long range abilities and only a single throw with that mace puts her at a disadvantage."

Clint would be assigned to this target if only because he could keep her at range during the confrontation and was good enough with his arrows to pin Hawkgirl's wings to a wall if necessary. Still, if they could get a hold of her mace and figure out how it works it would be an interesting way to upgrade the weaponry.

"The girl with the glowing lasso is also a close range fighter for the most part when she isn't trying to rope you. Image and resolution enhancing show signs of being cut but nothing more than a blemish." He said with the image of the blonde with the red top, jeans and lasso, "So were labeling her as having enhanced recuperative powers but not a healing factor on par with Wolverine's."

Tony would be sent after her. He had more than enough tricks in that tin suit of his to deal with the lasso and if he tricked it up to handle her specifically taking her down would be easy.

"Last but certainly not least is Ms. Abra Kadabra. Confirmed magic user and definitely not someone skilled in close quarters combat." He said, putting a picture of the raven haired girl in the top hat, "Nevertheless, the eggheads confirmed that she opened up some kind of portal in the park with a sign that its exit point was not on this Earth. That puts her on a very short list of people."

He'd handle this one personally. No sign she has any sort of E.S.P or some danger sense like Parker, so one tranq dart to the back of the neck should be enough to take her out of the fight for a couple of hours. If not he had a few gas grenades that should make chanting anything impossible. Still, from the line up he had just finished outlining this lot would be a real pain to put down if they turned out to be less than law-abiding. If they were on the side of the angels, he'd still have the eggheads come up with no less than five ways to put each of them down, whether it be on a temporary or permanent basis. In his line of work it was a given that he had to be paranoid and always be ready for the worst case scenario, but considering the size of the world, that meant quite a few sleepless nights spent trying to make sure S.H.I.E.L.D had its trump card. People complained about all the super powered crazies popping out of the woodwork lately? Try doing his job for a week and then complain about how hard they have it. One of the major reasons why he didn't leave and try something less troublesome was because he didn't trust anyone else to do the job right and would probably find it more stressful working a normal job, wondering if his replacement was on top of things. No, it was better that he stay put and endure the stress of being the head of this nuthouse if only to make sure that someone else didn't drop the ball after he left.

"At the moment we don't know which side of the fence these people are on. Good? Bad? We don't know." He said, deciding to draw the meeting to a close, "Considering they had Mr. Bones encased in titanium and were pretty much focused on taking him down the entire time they were here is a point in their favor. Nevertheless I expect all of you to read the official report our tech division sends you once they're done and keep your eyes open for them. Until we know where they stand, I don't want to take any chances. Dismissed."

Watching them as they filed out of the room, he had to wonder just where the eight costumes went to when they passed through that golden curtain of energy. Did they plan to leave that way or did someone just pop up and offer them a way out? He didn't know but it was definitely one of the things he'd put on his to do list.

_As if I don't have enough things on it already! _He thought, restraining himself from letting out a sigh of exasperation.

_**Earth's Solar System, Jupiter, The Center of the Red Spot,**_

_**One Hundred Kilometers Into the Atmosphere, One Hour Later Giles' P.O.V**_

To say that Rupert Giles was not comfortable with his present set of circumstances would be such a mother of an understatement that he would have no choice but to marvel at the stupidity of whoever had asked.

Still, he could find no fault in the logic that had placed him on this apparently Kryptonian spaceship that, if the holographic woman was to be believed, resided one hundred kilometers beneath the red spot of Jupiter. His mind boggled at the level of technical sophistication necessary for such a feat to be possible but what really had his mind spinning was the level of change his mind had undergone thanks to the Powers. He had facts running around his head that went far beyond anything he'd had as simple Watcher Rupert Giles, ranging from combat techniques to how to operate most forensic equipment without looking. He actually **knew** how to operate that infernal device called a computer with a skill level he dare say was on par with what Willow was capable of. While the part of him that he'd inherited from Bruce Wayne considered any additional knowledge a good thing, he had to wonder at just how thorough the changes to him and his comrades really were. He knew both from personal experience and observations (ones that were a great deal more thorough, thanks to Wayne) that they had sufficient knowledge to use their abilities with significant skill and that the odds of them accidently hurting someone with them were slim. Nevertheless, they had almost all been given gifts that went beyond what they were used to and it was bound to affect them sooner or later. He knew that Buffy at least was having a difficult time adjusting to her new condition, it was one of the reasons he suggested they take some time off after the initial meeting with Avia, and he could only imagine how well the others were handling their dimensional displacement. He himself was going to either find something to distract himself or go to Earth and buy the strongest liquor he could find when the situation permitted it because having much of the mind of a brooding workaholic rich boy in his head was not a walk in the park.

_At least Whistler's superiors had the good sense to only empower us with the abilities and memories of true heroes rather than those of a far more uncertain nature._ He thought as he continued walking the halls of the spaceship, peripherally making a map in his head, _I would hate to think of Xander receiving the mental imprint of Slade Wilson or, heaven forbid, Orion._

Nevertheless he knew that as the surrogate father of the group he would have to do what he could to aide his young charges acclimate to their new home and for that there was one thing he needed.

Information.

"Avia?" he asked, recalling how the A.I had told them that they had only to speak to get her attention.

"Yes Mr. Giles?" asked Avia as her holographic form took shape in front of him.

"Would you have a room where I could learn about the Earth of this dimension?" he asked while unsuccessfully trying to suppress the dark and intimidating tones from his voice.

"Indeed. The central archives." She said as parts of the floor in front of him began to light up to show him the way, "Probes from this ship have been monitoring that world for the past five centuries and I can provide access to the planet's internet and media broadcasts if you require it."

"Thank you." He said and, without another word, followed the path that was being lit up before him.

If Avia's information on this dimension's Earth was truly as long reaching as she claimed, then he should have all access he needed in order to properly guide the others. While he did not doubt their ability to take care of themselves, they were still young and in possession of attributes that would tempt them to make less that moral choices. He needed to learn as much as he could about the world they would be living in and see if he could find places in that world for the others since he very much doubted that they'd be satisfied living aboard this ship for the remainder of their lives. First he'd find out what this world had in the way of super powered individuals, since those were the ones he and the others would most likely have to deal with if they chose to continue using their newfound powers for good. From there he would familiarize himself with the history of the United States in this world and its current laws, so as to ascertain how costumed crime fighters would be received. After that he would endure what would probably be several hours worth of comparisons between the reality they all came from and the world they must now reside in. It would be difficult but, with Avia granting them permission to reside aboard the ship, that was her responsibility for the time being time was something they possessed and he would use it wisely.

As she door to the central archives opened up, he stopped in his tracks when he discovered that apparently some of his charges had beaten him to the punch for the most part. Anya, Willow and Tara were already making use of the tools of the room and, judging from the way that the former vengeance demon occasionally shot the wall behind her a cross look, he would imagine she was telepathically connected to someone else. He supposed that he shouldn't really be surprised that they would reach the same conclusions about what must be done, considering that they have worked together for many years now. That being the case, he didn't even say a word before he went to an available terminal and began to conduct his own bit of research after covertly looking at what the rest of them were investigating. It would do no good to retrace work that had already been done.

Picking a topic that had always been a favorite of his, he began looking into the historical records of this reality's Earth while at the same time comparing what he read to the Earth they were all from. For the most part he couldn't see all that many differences between the past he knew and how things took place here in this reality. However, based on the readings from Avia's probe, it appeared as though there existed demons here in this world and they were just as dangerous here as they were back home. In some cases the demonic element was even more insidious and almost without realizing it he began to set certain documents aside to show the others. While it went without saying that, thanks to his Watcher sense of commitment and the traits he'd inherited from Batman, he would likely continue 'fighting the good fight' where and when he could, he had a feeling a few of the others would as well. Whether or not they'd choose to restrict their activities to supernatural threats or not was another matter. Would they truly fight human crime alongside thwarting the activities of the demonic? Considering how knowledgeable Xander was of their costumed personaes, it was likely he would seek out the life of a costumed hero and attempt to motivate the rest of them to follow his lead. Spike would likely agree to that if for no other reason than to enjoy a decent spot of violence every once and awhile. Dawn would likely vote in favor of the idea if for no other reason than to have an excuse to spend time with Xander while flaunting her decidedly more adult form. He had never been blind to the fact that the youngest Summers girl was still harboring feelings for the boy he saw as a surrogate son and the fact that he and Anya were officially no longer a couple only strengthened the girl's drive to claim one Xander Harris as her own.

Willow and Tara might be willing to aid the others in a support capacity but it was up for debate as to whether or not they'd commit themselves to a more active role. After all they had fewer reasons in this world to fight the darkness since they no longer lived in a town where there existed a Hellmouth, nor did they have loved ones outside of the eight of them here on this ship.

Or did they?

There was a theory he'd heard about during his early days as a Watcher that for every alternate reality that existed, there was another you that existed within it. If that did turn out to be the case, then it would stand to reason that on this Earth that would be their home there was another Rupert Giles there, another Buffy Summers, another…

…another Jenny Calender.

He almost gasped at that idea but fortunately the excellent mental conditioning he'd picked up from Batman as well as his Watcher training kept it merely to a narrowing of the eyes. Was she alive in this reality? Or had she died at the hands of this world's version of Angelus just as she had in his reality? He didn't know the answer to that but, for the time being, he would resist the urge to search through the internet of this world for any sign of her existence. He would wait until the others had been seen to and then he would indulge in his own personal interests that may or may not turn out to be a dead end.

He and Bruce Wayne were much alike in that regard.

They often put the needs of those they were responsible for ahead of their own personal desires.

The only difference was that, unlike Bruce Wayne, he would not allow this cape and this cowl to become his whole life.

He would build a life for himself **AND** fight the darkness.

_**Observation Deck, Kryptonian Vessel, One Hour Later, Xander's P.O.V**_

He'd been covertly keeping an eye on her ever since they'd all gone their separate ways after meeting Avia and hearing her brief bio. He knew she was shook up and he knew that suddenly being saddled with wings couldn't have done good things to her mentally. Buffy never handled change all that well, he knew that and couldn't really blame her, but changes that separated her even further from the life of a normal teenage girl hit her the hardest he'd wager. He recalled how much he got in her face back home about how it was his choice as to whether or not he wanted to stand by her side fighting against the darkness but just now he was beginning to realize how it must feel when you aren't given the choice. Watching her from the doorway to the observation deck, he tried to imagine what it was like to one day be a perfectly ordinary teenager and then the very next day get saddled with being a female Van Hellsing with powers. Not only that, but you getting stuffy Brits showing up, telling you that you pretty much don't have a choice about whether or not you fight the demons. True, the gang managed to get the lead rod out of Giles' butt and actually loosen up, but he still was pretty hung up on Buffy staying true to her calling as the Slayer. It was, he supposed, one of the reasons why he and Willow had chosen to do what they could to help Buffy. They both didn't like the fact that someone had to face the forces of badness all by themselves. Well that and the fact that it made sense to buddy up with people in the know when you're told you're sitting on a gateway to hell.

Still, even with their help, Buffy didn't have an easy time of it and the rest of them also had a rough time of it. Which side had it rougher? Tough call but he'd put his money on Buffy now that he had Superman's memories and was able to look at things from a slightly more experienced mind's point of view. After all, everyone but her could walk away anytime they wanted really, anytime at all, but until someone developed a way to take away her Slayer abilities for good, she could never get away from the darkness. Then, of course, there were the pressures of being the defacto leader of the Scoobies since Giles was pretty much in an advisory position and only took command when Buffy was short on info. Pressures like feeling responsible for the lives of everyone else in the group. Pressures like knowing that the bad guys outnumbered you and only had to get luck once for you or someone you love to die. Knowing that getting close to anyone was pretty much the same as putting a bullseye on their head in eyes of the demons or supernatural entities. From that point of view, he could almost understand why she almost constantly gravitated towards guys who were soldiers or vampires with souls.

Almost.

After all, if she knew, or at least believed, that her boyfriend could defend himself and hold his own against the baddies of the world, then that would be one less worry on her plate. Riley had been a soldier and while he still wasn't crazy about her two other serious relationships, Angel and Spike, they had abilities on par with her own in the fighting department. They had strength, speed, real fighting training and, for two of them, the ability to take numerous deadly objects to the torso and survive so long as none of them were derived from a tree. He could see how dating people like them could make things easier than dating an ordinary guy like him, who only had faded soldier memories and learned how to fight only through fighting. Giles had always been too busy either keeping up the act of being the school librarian, training Buffy or helping them with the latest threat to train him, so he had no choice but to learn as he went. Of course that led to many an embarrassing incident where he misjudged one thing or another, leading to a pounding that resulted in most of them thinking he was a klutz. He could see how that might take him off the list of potential boyfriends and barely keep him on the list of best friends. So, when you added all these pressures into one and realized that there wasn't a person on the planet who **really** knew what that felt like to be a Slayer, you had one lonely teenage girl whose family and loved ones were life preservers. They kept her from totally losing it and having a death wish. At the same time they were all like the flames of a fire to her, something she got close enough to soak in the warmth but not close enough to hurt her, so that if one of them died the pain would be more bearable than if she'd been supremely close to them.

It wasn't fair and he doubted that this so-called fresh start would change things very much.

Walking up behind her, he stopped just shy of where her wings would bump into his chest since he wasn't sure what would be the best move right now. In the end he decided that letting her dictate the pace would be best since it would keep her from feeling pressured in any way.

"I'm not going to say that it'll be alright, Buff," he said, deciding that even words of comfort might spark off the wrong reaction that he was hoping for. "This is new for all of us and we're all going to have to adjust to all this in our own way. But the one thing that gives me hope is that none of us have to face this situation alone. We have each other to lean on or talk to when things get rough and, as long as we stick together, we'll manage somehow. I know we will."

"I sort of think my problems are going to be a little harder than yours, Xander." Buffy said as she turned around with a flimsy 'I am good' attitude on her face, "At least with you all you need is a change of clothes and maybe some fake glasses to blend in. Me? The only place I'd blend in is maybe a circus freak show or something."

"You are **not** a freak, Buffy Summers!" he declared, gripping her by the shoulders and putting his no nonsense face on, "You're a wonderful young woman that it has been my honor to know for the past six years. Besides if you think I'm going to have it easy, you're dead wrong. Do you have any idea what it's like to be strong enough to lift a cruise ship over your head? Or to run so fast that you could go from one end of America to another in a few hours or less if you pushed yourself? If not then try to imagine having that kind of power while trying to pretend that you're just an ordinary Joe America when you're in civilian clothes. Superman himself said it once 'I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard - always taking constant care not to break something. To break someone. Never allowing myself to lose control, even for a moment, or someone could die.' That is what I feel like right now even with all the added memories and skills helping me learn control."

He could tell that his words were getting through to her when a shocked looked of realization came across her face. Not that he was entirely surprised that she hadn't realized that being Superman wasn't all glory and heroics. No, sometimes having the power of a virtual demi-god was just as much trouble as having a physical disfigurement or a disease that couldn't be cured. Even that one time, when he'd rescued a young woman from falling to her potential death thanks to the damage his body had caused thanks to Warrensday's blow, he'd been afraid of breaking her by accident. Catching someone mid-air required that you do more than simply catch the person, you had take into account the speed of the person's descent so you could minimize the force of impact when your body met their body, and it would only take one miscalculation to bruise the person or even break bones. It was that way with all his abilities now, he had to be so careful with them, because, if he didn't, someone might get hurt or even die and it'd be his fault because he'd been careless. Buffy looked like she understood that now and knowing that she wasn't the only one coming to terms with her new form seemed to do a lot in terms of taking her troubles away or at least half of them.

"Superman. Hawkgirl. Batman requests your presence at the senior officers lounge." A.V.I.A said after shimmering into existence behind them, "He and the others have finished their preliminary analysis of this dimension's Earth."

"Tell them we're on our way." He said before turning to Buffy and asking, "So? Are you ready to see what this new world is like?"

"Yep!" Buffy replied with a definite improvement in her mood, "But if I find out that women's lib hasn't kicked in yet, I'm going to be **so** pissed."

_**Senior Officer's Lounge, Thirty Minutes Later, Dawn Sandsmark's P.O.V**_

"So, what've you guys found out so far?" Dawn asked as she, being the last to arrive, plunked her cute, well-formed butt down in a chair closest to Xander.

"This Earth, for the most part, is nearly identical to the one we came from." Rupert Wayne, as she was calling the former Watcher now, replied as he worked the console on front of him to bring up holo-images, "Most of the countries are still the same, albeit with a few smaller ones, such as Latveria, that simply never formed in our native reality. Religion, culture, languages and old grudges are still there for the most part. The biggest differences are these three items: mutants, technology and super power experimentation."

In response to his key tapping, three video clips on three separate holo-screens popped into existence for them all to see. One showed a man dressed in purple clothes, a red cape and a helmet on his head. Another showed what looked like an Anime suit of armor flying around what looked to be New York. The last showed some guy dressed up in the colors of the American flag with a big shield strapped to one arm.

"Mutants, according to the more objective sources I was able to find, are human beings with a genetic quirk known as the x-gene in their DNA granting them a wide variety of special abilities. Everything from telepathy to control over magnetic fields to firing concussive blasts of energy from a persons eyes is apparently possible with this genetic anomaly." Batman replied as the video clips continued playing one after another, "However the cause of this genetic quirk has yet to be determined and is causing quite a bit of trouble across the entire planet. Some believe that mutants are the next stage in human evolution. Others believe that they are genetic abominations that should be feared and hated. Some more religious centered communities believe that they are children of Satan. In any case, the lack of definite answers as to the origin of the x-gene coupled with the different ways that mutants have chosen to use their powers has made them the new persecuted minority of the world."

This stunned her for more than a few reasons.

For one thing, living on the Hellmouth and working with the Scooby gang had given her a rather unique outlook when it came to people who looked different as well as how to look at different species. If there was one thing that the all night cram sessions taught her, it was that just because a demon looked evil didn't necessarily mean that was the case. Some of the most villainous-looking demons were actually quite harmless, some of their kind actually getting some acting work done in Hollywood for studios who wanted to cut back on the special effects budget. So she'd learned fairly early that looks or species did not make a person evil automatically, even though there were some demon species that were predisposed to being baddies due to their physiology or culture. But, in her mind, both Spike, and Angel, to a degree, proved that there were exceptions to the rule that an entire species was evil. Therefore the idea that the people of this Earth were carpet hating every mutant on their world just because of something those people couldn't do a thing to change and most certainly didn't choose both shocked and disgusted her.

The other reason was the fact that people who got their powers much like meta-humans did in the DC universe were being treated drastically different. Back in the DC universe, according to Wonder Girl's memories, meta-humans weren't seen as being all that different than ordinary humans and some were even seen as cool. The thought of this reality's version of meta-humans being treated like monsters or evil demons struck her as being ridiculous, especially if they hadn't done anything wrong to warrant such treatment. Sure, if they'd robbed a bank or killed tons of people, she could understand why individual mutants or a group of them would be treated like villains and be hunted down like criminals. But being harassed or lynched for no other reason than because you're different? Out of the question! She knew right then and there that if there was a mutant rights group or something down on Earth at the moment, she was siding with them the first chance she got.

"A.V.I.A? Have you been able to make any sense as to how the x-gene came into being?" Xander asked with a troubled look on his face.

"It has been over fifty years since I was last fully online, Superman." A.V.I.A replied, showing up this time as merely a holographic disembodied head, "I have only begun to analyze the data on the mutant sub-species of humanity. It will be precisely one year, two months and fifteen days before I can propose a theory regarding your inquiry."

No one, not even Superman, knew what to say to that so Batman merely proceeded with the briefing.

"Technology is also an odd thing since, in some areas, it is easily twenty to thirty years ahead of what existed back in our reality, but is somewhat behind in others. Most of the advancements seem to be in the area of genetic engineering and military hardware. This might be in response to the existence of people with superhuman abilities or simply the fact that world governments were more easily persuaded to fund Star Wars projects and the like than where we are from." Rupert explained as images of the flying suit of armor as well as orbiting hi-tech satellites came up, "In any case, we can expect that there will be more advanced devices made for killing or empowering then for something as benevolent as healing. It's basically a mechanical and super powers arms race with every country wanting to have their own super soldier or T-800 guarding their homeland."

That did not do a lot for her world view at the moment. While Wonder Girl might not be a complete stranger to the bad guys and various secret government agencies always trying to come up with the next super weapon, the idea that things were that intense on this new Earth was troubling. She had always been the more reasonable Summers daughter and not quite so quick to take out the battle axe when things got spicy. True, that might because she didn't have the Slayer essence in her making her predisposed towards fighting, but she really did prefer to think things out with her mind rather than just bash someone. Why these people weren't making more of an effort to settle their differences through diplomacy and talking she couldn't understand at all. She wasn't a fool who thought that **everything** could be solved with talking, she understood that sometimes fighting was necessary, but it sounded like these people weren't even giving reason a chance.

"As far as super powered experimentation is concerned, virtually every country with the resources and funds is doing it in some shape or form. They are approaching the issue from all angles: technological, genetic, chemical and even some dabbling in the occult. All for the express purpose of creating a warrior that is head and shoulders above what the other countries have. Private companies are getting into the mix as well, whether it be for sale to world governments or for their own personal army." Mr. Wayne explained as pictures of the guy in the American Flag as well as a man the size of a six story building popped into existence, "Unfortunately, because A.V.I.A's probe scans were designed for a more global coverage of Earth rather than anything specific, it'll take time to find out just where every nation is in terms of producing a viable subject and mass producing it. What I can say is that this Earth is a veritable hotbed of potential conflicts and problems that could easily affect things on a global scale."

Now **that** statement was definitely something that had her sit back and try to make sense of the big picture that the now prime Rupert Wayne had handed them. They were in a world with so much strife, so much potential for blowing itself up, that it almost made the stuff they had to go through back in Sunnydale seem like little league problems by comparison. Sure, they had their share of world ending demons and potentially devastating spells, but the big stuff usually only happened once a year around May or June. If she was interpreting what Giles was telling them, the big stuff happened almost every other week on this Earth. Sometimes she had to wonder if the Pricks That Be sent them here because they thought it'd be a nice place for them to live or if they did it because the Higher Beings in this reality called in a marker or something.

"Then I think now's the time I propose something to you all that I've been thinking about ever since Whistler told us we'd be shipped off to some other dimension." Xander said standing up and sounding quite serious.

"You want us to form a new Justice League for this reality's Earth." Batman said before Superman could get another word out.

"You know that's seriously freaky, right?" Xander asked rhetorically before continuing, "Yes I have been thinking about forming a Justice League here involving all of us. Think about it. We already have the powers, memories and skills of eight superheroes who did the exact same thing in their world. Why shouldn't we form a Justice League?"

"Perhaps because this world isn't nearly as open minded as the one in the DC Universe. If we show up saving lives and righting wrongs all over the world, there are two highly likely conclusions people will come to." Batman replied sounding completely serious about what he was saying, "One possibility is that they will see us as just another group of super powered people that publically says they are aligned with no government, company or organization but privately answer to one of the major global powers. They will question everything we do and try their best to find out who our bosses are as well as what scheme we're running behind the scenes. They will mistrust us at almost every turn and, even if by some chance we manage to gain the support of the general populace, there will always be a faction somewhere keeping tabs on us.

"The second possibility is that they will see as a group of tin plated super-jocks who are arrogant and tyrannical enough to think that we know how the world should be run. They will say things like we're taking away their free will or freedom of expression or something of that nature. That's not even touching on the potential political problems we'll set off if we intervene in a war somewhere or destroy a military complex without official authorization." Rupert pointed out, sounding completely serious the entire time, "Eventually it might get so bad that every single time we show up to try to do some good, the military of whatever country we're in will show up to try and arrest us. They might even start smear propaganda campaign to turn the civilian population against us. Knowing this do you really want to light the fuse on what could potentially be a global time bomb?"

"Definitely. I might not have thought about things in as much detail as you probably have, but I know that the people of this world won't greet us with open arms at first. It'll take time, same as anything worthwhile." Xander said, not sounding deterred in the least, "As for those that'd oppose us or try to make us out to be the villains, that's a given either way. I've read enough comics to know that there'll always be people in power that'll mistrust us or try to take us down. The question you have to ask yourself is: am I willing to let evil prevail just to protect myself? Because as the saying goes: the only way for evil to prevail is for good people to stand by and do nothing."

It was definitely a sight to see that was for sure.

While Xander had always been able to call up a commanding presence when he needed to, he had never quite been what one could call charismatic or anything. Now, though, what he had just said them all was inspiring her to take the same risks that he was going to be taking. She agreed that it was never easy doing the right thing and that if things went worst case scenario like Batman predicted they likely wouldn't receive any real thanks for their efforts. Then again true heroes don't get into the game because they want to be praised or patted on the heads after the job is done. They do what they do because it's the right thing to do and because in some cases they are the only people who can do those sort of things.

"I'm in. We're here and we have the power to do some good for a lot of people." She said standing up and making her position clear, "It'd be pretty selfish of us to throw all that away."

"Would it be?" Buffy asked, sounding a little uncertain of her own question, "We've been fighting the good fight on the Hellmouth for six years and I've been the Slayer for seven years. Haven't we earned the right to simply step back and let someone else do the fighting for a change?"

"And what exactly would we do Buffy?" She asked, feeling a 'normal life' rant revving up, "Even assuming Willow and Giles can hack into the federal computers and insert us in there, what could we do? Get a small apartment, work the cash register at a supermarket and only use our powers when we're sure we can do so without anyone catching us red handed? No thanks! I'm not going to let your normal life fetish get in the way of doing the right thing."

Buffy looked like she was about to fire back a rebuttal but at the last minute backed off and merely sat in her seat like she was coming up with a new plan of attack. Not that it'd work one way or another. She'd made her choice and no one was going to make her change her mind.

"Where Xander goes, I go." Anya said rising to her feet as she let her form shift back into her superhero outfit, "Plus violence and destruction can be quite cathartic after a bad day at work."

Leave it to Anya to think of some kind of self-serving reason for being a superhero. She knew the former vengeance demon could be kind when she wanted to be but she was still hip deep in the whole 'care only about myself' thing that most demons seemed to have.

"I am in, too. I'm not about to let my bestest friend since preschool go off to fight without me." Willow said following the example of the others, "Besides, if we need money I can always fall back on Zatanna's other job as a stage magician. I've certainly got the looks for it, right?"

"Then you're going to need a pretty stage assistant, so I guess I'll stick with you, baby." Tara Lance said joining the ranks of those in favor of Xander's idea, "We'll do the right thing because it's not in our nature to do nothing when people need our help."

"While I'd like to say the same 'bout myself, I think we all know that'd be a sodding lie." Spike said, sitting in his chair with his feet on the table, "Truth is I love a good spot o'violence and you lot always seem to be in the middle of some decent scraps, so I'll stick close 'til I find something better."

While not the vow to atone for past wrongs with his newfound life as a human, it was still better than what you'd expect from someone who was a soulless vampire a week ago. With a little luck and experience he just might call them friends rather than just a means to an end.

"So that makes it six in favor and two undecided." Xander said turning to where Giles and Buffy sat, "I can't force you two to do anything you don't want to do. If you're really against the formation of the Justice League, then you don't have to get involved. A team of six can work just as well as a team of eight."

"True. However a team of seven stands a better chance of succeeding." Rupert Wayne said rising to his feet to lend his support, "If you cannot turn away from the fight then I suppose I cannot let you face it without me. I'm in."

Why was it that she suspected that Batman would have signed up one way or another and was just waiting for the rest of them to sign their names on the dotted line? Was it some kind of test? It'd be just like pointy ears to try something like that.

"Fine! It's not like I was going to be able to blend in looking like this no matter what I wore!" Buffy said rising to her feet with only a crack or two in her mock disgruntled surrender, "Guess I make this little decision a clean sweep. I'm in."

"Then I guess it's official then. Today's the day that the Justice League takes up cause of defending this world against all threats." She said sounding like and feeling like she'd just signed on to be a part of something truly historic.

_**Two Weeks Later, New York City, Mid-Morning, Flash aka Spike's P.O.V**_

_I gotta say this is a pretty good set-up I got goin' for me now._ Spike thought as he ran down the streets of the Big Apple at speeds that made most Formula One race cars look pathetic, _I'm human again, got super powers that let me go so fast only Blue Boy Harris and maybe Anya can keep up with me, not to mention I'm __**human**__ again!_

In all his years as a vampire, he'd looked at humans as just being a bunch of Happy Meals on legs for him to eat, maim, torture or kill whenever the mood struck him. Were there ever times when he missed being human? Sure. He was pretty sure that with the exception of the more hardcore bloody killing machine vampires just about every member of the undead troop missed something from their lives as humans. For him, he supposed it was being able to really enjoy normal food. Oh, sure, he had ordered out for some fast food or at the supper of some couple he'd drained moments earlier, but his vampire body just wasn't geared for eating normal food. In fact most of his taste buds felt like they'd been shot up with nerve numbing anesthetic when he ate normal food and he only really tasted blood. Only blood lit up his body with the tingly empowering sensation that ordinary people could usually get from some sweet chocolate or a nice dish of pasta. About the only thing he could do to make normal food come close was to sprinkle a little type O positive on top and try to pretend it was the food that was tasty rather than the red stuff. In the end, though, like most undead who mourned the loss of something only humans could enjoy, he just suppressed anything that would kill his mood or make him all broody like the Poof. It's why he always looked for the next fight, the next kill and the next massacre. He did it because if he allowed himself to become too bored he would start thinking about his unlife, where it was going, and that was not a direction he wanted to let his mind go in.

Now, though… now he couldn't imagine ever wanting to be turned into a vampire ever again.

He was reveling in the sensations of being a flesh and blood human again that seemed so much sweeter when compared to how things were when he was just a vampire. Oh, sure, vampires got the senses upgrade to help them hunt for food but pretty much everything else wound up being dulled by at least one third. Now feeling it all at full strength again made it alright that he'd lost the vampire abilities. Although this could have to do with the fact that he'd gained some new powers as compensation and **bugger** if they weren't better by far. The memories of Wally West showed him all the possibilities of the powers he possessed and best of all the odds of him falling victim to the whole Speed Force thing were slim. There was even a chance that his powers came from a completely different force so that even if he did push himself to his limits he would never have to worry about being absorbed into some kind of energy field. Not that he had to worry about that necessarily since he'd yet to get even a hint of a threat that might require him to go above mach three. That didn't mean that there wouldn't be down the line, hanging with the newly formed Justice League would make sure of that, but for now he was just sticking to cruise control and enjoying his new life.

BANG! BANG BANG!

"Sounds like some blighters decided to start the party without me." He said as he ran in between the cars towards the sounds of gunfire, "I think I'll go tell them how upset I am that they didn't invite me."

It took him less than three seconds to narrow down the source of the gunshots to the street where all the pricy jewelry stores in New York were and three guys backing out of one of the stores with guns raised. For the next second solid he debated on how he should handle the situation. Should he drag things out and try out a few of the moves residing in the memories he'd inherited from West or stay professional by finishing things quickly like a professional superhero. While he wasn't quite into the whole hero game like the others, he had agreed to be part of the Justice League and that meant he had to act like a hero while in uniform.

So, when his full second was up, he kicked his speed up a notch and made his first pass by the robbers, stripping them of their weapons, popping all the rounds out of the clips and placing them in a nearby trash bin. Looping around, he then stripped the belts off all three before using the strips of leather to bind their hands behind their backs and pulled their pants down to the ground. This, of course, was to totally humiliate them while making it so that they'd trip if they tried to move too quickly. Then, as a final measure of his superheroism, he went into the store where the trio of troublemakers had been coming out of to see if anyone had been hurt by the gunfire that had lured him here in the first place. At the speed he was going, everyone looked like they were statues and so it didn't take him long to evaluate the health of everyone as being scared but alright. There was no blood or any signs of a single one being injured by the gunfire, so he could only presume that the gunfire had been meant to discourage any good citizens from coming after them. Slowing down a bit to let the people catch up with him, he looked about to see if any of them were wincing in pain or might otherwise be messed up. It was tedious waiting for the next few seconds to pass so he could look but, after four seconds of movement, he concluded that no one seemed to be having a heart attack or anything, so he zoomed back to the entrance of the store. Coming to a complete halt, he watched as the world began moving at the same speed as him and it was truly amusing to behold. Not only did all three crooks trip over their own pants but, without their arms being free, they all fell to the ground with nothing to break their fall.

"What the fuck!?" exclaimed one as he tried to free his hands.

"What the hell is this!?" yelled another angrily as he rolled onto his back.

"This, you soddin' idiots, is what happens when you try an' pull something like this when I'm within earshot." He replied, taking up what he thought was a cool pose, "So howsabout you lot just give up quietly while ya still got some dignity left to you, alright?"

Of course this was when the driver of the getaway vehicle decided to make himself known by getting out of the car with a semi-automatic pistol in his hands. Deciding it'd be a bit reckless to let the guy do what he wanted, he zipped around to the other side of the car, took the gun away and then slammed the door into the guy six times. He didn't go all out or even move the door that fast but, when all was said and done, the guy dropped like a rock, a quick once over showing he was still breathing with no broken bones that he could find. He, of course, did this at a speed that couldn't be captured by the human eye or by any mechanical recording device he could think of since it wouldn't do for people to think he was trying to rob the guy or feel him up. After all, he was sure that there were plenty of pretty birds in this world and it'd be a crime not to let'em know that ol' Spike was available. True, he still sort of felt something for the Slayer-turned-Thanagarian, but it'd become a mite hazy how she felt about him. He'd been like an unhealthy addiction to her back in their reality, despite his inner desire that she return his love, but here in this dimension the reason for that was gone. He was no longer a vampire. Still, they had some bad history between each other, so he'd give her a month before trying to touch on the subject with her.

Looking back to the crooks on the other side of the car, he could see that they were trying to free their hands, both to pull up their pants as well as get away. With a sigh he figured it'd be best to just clock'em one rather than risk them getting away before the cops showed up. So without further adieu he ran into position and knocked all three out cold with a punch to the jaw. With that done it was time to drop off what the Whelp of Steel wanted all League members to drop off for the next while. Reaching under the top of the golden gloves he wore, he pulled out a slip of paper before tucking it beneath the wiper blade of the getaway vehicle and running away to enjoy the day. He wondered how the boys in blue would take the League's mission statement when they took a look at what he put on the car. It wasn't the entire thing, there was still some fine print to work out, but the basics of what they had all sworn to do and what they wouldn't do. It was sure to cause an uproar with the suits in the governments of the world without a doubt but it'd be fun to see'em get their knickers in a twist.

_**The Side of the Jewelry Store, Three Floors Up, One Minute Later, Peter Parker's P.O.V**_

_Well this is new! _Peter thought as he looked at the paper he'd snagged from the windshield of the car half a minute ago.

He'd been web swinging through the city, fresh from webbing Jameson's feet to the ground, when he'd heard gunshots pierce the air coming from the pricy district of the city.

Or, as he preferred to call, it the bauble and bling area since if you had one, you likely had the other.

In any case, imagine his surprise when he got here not even a minute ago he found the crooks out cold and showing everyone if it was boxers or tighty whities they preferred. Quite frankly he was pretty sure he could have gone without that tidbit of info but what he held in his hands was another matter altogether.

**JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED**

**THIS IS OUR DECLARATION TO THE PEOPLE OF THE PLANET EARTH.**

**WE SOLEMNLY SWEAR TO DO OUR BEST TO SERVE AND PROTECT THIS WORLD, TO HELP AVERT TRAGEDY, AND TO FIGHT AGAINST THE DARKNESS THAT PREYS UPON THE INNOCENT. WE SWEAR ALLEGIENCE TO NO ONE COUNTRY BUT RATHER TO THE PLANET AS A WHOLE. WHILE WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO WORK WITH THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD, IF LAWS, POLICIES OR PROTOCOL GO AGAINST THE COMMON GOOD WE WILL DO WHAT WE MUST. WE HOPE IN TIME THAT YOU WILL ALL COME TO TRUST US.**

**SO SWEARS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED.**

It sounded like someone was forming a new superhero team and were getting a little carried away with their oath. After all, 'protect the planet as a whole' was mighty ambitious and not even the Ultimates, the world's premiere superhero team, were arrogant enough to make such a promise and think they could back it up. After all, Earth was a big place and making promises like this would get them in a lot of trouble when they're saving lives in one spot but not in another. He even knew how old Flattop would spin things in the Daily Bugle. He'd probably tally up all the lives saved and use the info to make them out to either be loose cannons that were a threat to all or the best thing since Twinkies. Whichever angle promised the most papers sold would be the way things went and, unfortunately, J. Jonah Jameson wasn't a big believer in presenting the unbiased truth to the people of New York.

_Wouldn't it be better to present a more… what's the word I'm… a more well-rounded look?_

_Well-rounded? Let me give you a little lesson in human nature. People say… they say they want 'well-rounded'. But they don't. You ask someone 'do you want all the facts? Do you want the truth?' They say 'oh, of course… I demand it.' But they don't. No. They want to read about a good guy and a bad guy. They want to cheer and they want to boo. People are sheep. They'll read what you give them._

Not exactly the sort of thing that would make the Daily Bugle a shining bastion of truth and integrity where people told what goes on in the world around them, uncolored by personal bias. Still, he had to admit that he wondered if there were any job opportunities with this Justice League or if they had some kind of intern program or something. After all, while the Ultimates had been the only official super team up until today, he'd never really kidded himself by thinking he could join them just by walking up and filling out an application. They were all heavy hitters, after all, from Captain America to Thor, and he was just a high school kid who'd gotten his powers a couple of months ago. He knew he didn't even rate high enough to do their laundry, never mind fight by their side. However maybe things were different with this group. It was then that he thought up a possibility that hit him like a thunderbolt from the sky above. Was this Justice League made up of the people that totaled Central Park two weeks ago? His mind shifted into high gear as he considered the possibility that was sounding more and more likely with every passing moment. If this was indeed the case, then it put some of his concerns at ease since his imagination had been helping him to speculate about what things would be like if they were good or evil. The thought of a group powerful enough to completely trash Central Park being people he might have to fight in the future was enough to make him consider **really** early retirement.

He still didn't have a good idea what they looked like, he'd been too far to give a real good description of them, but he knew that there had been eight of them in total.

If the person who had foiled the robbery below belonged to that group, then it was a good sign that they were good guys but, just the same, he'd wait until he either met one of them or saw what the Ultimates' official position on them was. After all, if he met them he could probably get a feel for what they were like from that and if the likes of Captain America gave this Justice League their stamp of approval, then that was all there was to it. Jumping down onto the future resident of the police impound yard, he slid the piece of paper back under the windshield wiper and then shot off a webline so he could return to school before lunch was over with.

The fact that he'd get a chance to sit next to the lovely Mary Jane Watson for two whole hours would be the icing to the cake of knowledge he'd get from his science and biology classes.

_**The Rooftops, The Section of NYC Referred to as Hell's Kitchen, A Little Past Midnight,**_

_**Rupert Wayne's P.O.V**_

_It's a little unnerving how Bruce Wayne's habits are influencing me. _Rupert thought as he stood concealed both by the darkness as well as his black cape, _Nevertheless, for tonight's activities they should prove useful._

It had been agreed upon by the team that they would each take some time away from the Kryptonian ship that was their tentative HQ to pick out territories that they'd patrol and introduce themselves to their new world. He knew that Spike (or William West, as Dawn insisted on calling him in honor of the person who the former vampire had gotten his empowerment from) had been patrolling the pricier targets that usually necessitated a fast getaway via a car or van and had thwarted four separate crimes over the course of the day. A decent start but, for someone who could run from one end of the state to the other in less than thirty minutes, it was clear that the former vampire was only putting forth enough effort to avoid being called lazy by the rest of them. He still had misgivings about having someone of William the Bloody's reputation in their team but the fact that he was human now and had the backing of the Summers sisters kept him from doing more than keeping tabs on the bleached young man. It would go one of two ways in the end: either Spike would follow the path that his formerly blonde Slayer believed he would go or he would revert to type, which was more than likely considering the former vampire's personality. If it did go the former, he would reassign most of his attention to other things while still monitoring the no longer undead young man enough to catch something if Spike had a relapse of evil.

As for him he had, of course, done research to find out which city in the United States seemed most like the Gotham of his inherited memories from Batman, since he felt that it was there that he could do the most good. Needless to say he did not have to look far since he started his search in the very city that they had been deposited in by the Powers That Be. Apparently New York City was rife with crime, both organized and not so, with most of the criminal element centered in an area referred to as Hell's Kitchen by the locals. In this section of the city everything from common teenage gangs to a group of crime families, known collectively as Maggia, conducted their business with little effort to conceal their transactions. The various crime families had a strong grip on this sector of the city as well as other places, with their only opposition coming from one Wilson Fisk, the so-called Kingpin of Crime. The man who looked fat but that, he suspected, had quite a bit of muscle beneath his expensive suit, behaved like he was completely untouchable by the NYPD up until recently when DVDs of his crime had reached a local newspaper. Now the bald man was outside of the country waiting for his lawyers to somehow discredit the evidence so he could return and resume his amoral activities. Therefore he had chosen to make sure that when the Kingpin of Crime did come back, Fisk would be given ample reasons by his subordinates to look for a new form of work.

Another thing that he had done some research on was the number of costumed characters on both sides of the law that resided in New York City. The obvious and most potentially troublesome were, of course, The Ultimates, who were a group of costumed heroes who had been commissioned by the federal government in response to the rising threat of super powered individuals. He'd looked through the current roster and had already come up with a few outlines of how each costumed soldier could be defeated, whether it be just himself or if he had the entire League backing him up. The biggest problem he had with this group was the fact that they were essentially an extension of the United States government and, while they might only be dealing with threats to the whole world at the moment, he didn't expect that to last. Governments inevitably tried to use assets like Captain America, Thor and Iron Man to further their own country's interests abroad, morality often becoming a questionable thing. He sincerely hoped that the members of this team discovered this potential outcome before too long or else he and the others might very well have to do battle with them someday.

There were some independent crime fighters in the city, ranging from the young Spider-man, who had appeared only a few short months ago, to a scarlet clad man who haunted the very neighborhood he was now looking down upon. The man's hero name was Daredevil and, by all accounts, was quite skilled in the area of hand to hand combat while also wielding a telescoping staff that could act either as a tonfa or a decent quarterstaff. There were also a few accounts that implied some sort of spatial ability that allowed the crimson clad fellow to be quite aware of everything in his surroundings, making a surprise attack quite difficult. Not impossible, given that he was purportedly human in that he had two arms, two legs and a head, making it simply a matter of attacking from outside the range of the man's ability. He, of course, had three separate plans for Daredevil made up based off what he had been able to dig up in the past two weeks, but he'd have to actually encounter the vigilante before he could say for sure if they'd be effective.

As for why he was here tonight, he'd learned by skimming the police database that current signs indicated that a sizeable shipment of narcotics were going to be delivered to the warehouse below within the hour. According to what he'd learned, the people who'd be in charge in of this meeting, the one receiving the goods, was fourth in command of the Silvermane crime family and he reported directly to the number two guy, who was called Hammerhead. He figured that this would be as good a chance as any to make a good first impression on the criminal underworld and he'd get a chance to practice some of the more 'dramatic' techniques. He was just waiting for the shipment itself to arrive before making his move. Fortunately he didn't have long to wait long as a large van rolled up to the entrance of the building minutes and was swiftly let in by those inside. Walking to the edge of the roof, he fired his grappling hook and, with a feeling akin to having done something countless times before, he swung over to the rooftop of the warehouse. Landing with grace and silence, he made his way across the rooftop to the skylight that seemed to come with just about every warehouse of this size and carefully peered in. A small part of himself was intrigued by the level of complexity this 'creature of the night' atmosphere that Bruce Wayne worked so hard to create so that he might prey upon the cowardly tendencies of the criminal element. The way his cape hung so that it prevented anyone from seeing his legs move, thus giving the illusion that he was swiftly 'floating' across the ground. The way he made sure that each step he took was soundless, no matter if he was walking or running, thus he seemed to be more than a mere human. Then there was the obvious point that he could skillfully blend in with the darkness thanks to the coloring of his uniform and only reveal himself if he chose to do so. Add it all together and you have something that could not be seen as a mere man in a costume but rather as a dark wraith come to drag the sinners down into hell where they belonged.

Employing these skills, he moved closer to the skylight, being mindful to not let the light coming from within the building touch him too much or else he'd become visible if one of the criminals inside happened to look up. Sharpening his gaze, he could see that only about a quarter of the building was filled with crates in random stacks here and there. He could count at least eight men that he could see but, judging by the minimum amount of people needed to maintain a building like this as well as those that would have come with the shipment, he believed there were actually twelve. Immediately he began to formulate a strategy for dealing with them that would put them down both efficiently as well as with minimal risk to himself. The stacking of the crates and containers would make isolating the men easier and the narrow paths between them would also work in his favor by preventing them from ganging up on him by more than three at a time. He could see that about a third of them had guns in their hands, so he was extra careful to memorize their faces and locations so he'd know which areas to be mindful of. That did not necessarily mean that the others didn't have firearms of their own but it'd be pointless to worry about it unnecessarily. Besides which, he already had a plan for minimizing the effectiveness of the guns while, at the same time, maximizing the fear he would inspire in the crooks below. Deciding that the time to move had come, he immediately moved to examine his entry point for any signs of alarms or security measures that would tip off his targets prematurely. He was disappointed with what he saw because it only seemed to be the most basic in terms of protections rather than what he would have suspected for the crime family warehouse.

_I guess that I will have to show them the folly of underestimating their adversaries. _He thought as he removed a tool kit from his utility belt and quickly disabled the small obstacle in his path.

Once that was done, he quietly lifted the skylight open and slipped inside, using the roof supports to move about. It didn't take him long to find what he had been looking for and, once done, he pulled a batarang he'd rigged to emit a sizeable electric discharge one second after impact. It could be used to neutralize robotic foes by overloading its systems or, properly recalibrated, could render most humans unconscious. In this case, though, he had a different purpose in mind so, with a flick of his wrist, he sent the projectile flying while getting into prime position to attack the largest group of foes. When the batarang hit the main fuse box for the building, it quickly overloaded it, causing every light or electrical appliance that happened to be plugged into the building at the moment to explode or go dead. It was quite impressive and was effective in that it seriously upset the cowardly fools but didn't quite have them jumping at shadows just yet. As per the usual way of thinking, some of the goons armed themselves while the others began to search the building for the reason behind the sudden disappearance of light. Waiting for just the right moment, he secured a grapple line to the roof support before grasping the edges of his cape and allowing himself to be pulled down by gravity. As soon as he was just about head level with the goon in front of him, he wrapped both cape and arms around the lawbreaker, using his right hand to cover the mouth completely. Then, like clockwork, the grapple line's motor yanked him back up at great speed, hopefully making it look and sound to the others as though their comrade had vanished into thin air. A crack of some sleeping pellets put his first victim to sleep so that, after securing the crook to a roof support, he could move on to the next target.

This was the way it went for the next seven minutes straight, surprise attacks and quick disappearances, until the three remaining hoodlums were randomly shooting into the dark whenever they heard a noise. He knew he could wait until they exhausted their ammunition but he was concerned that they might choose to flee before then, so he decided that he would defeat them beforehand. Removing two bat-bolas from his belt, he quickly whipped them around before throwing them at the two crooks to the side while leaving the middle one alone. A click from a switch hidden in his gloves caused electricity to arc along the cord between the spheres of the weapons, causing the two he'd aimed for to cry out in pain. This provoked the last thief standing into discharging the last of his bullets all over the place in a vain attempt to hit whatever had taken out his only back up but, eventually, the man's cowardice won out. Breaking into a panicked run, the man moved aimlessly through the walkways and stacks of crates, clearly so afraid that he couldn't think straight, much less remember where the exit was located. Predicting the man's course as best he could, he swooped down from the roof supports, cape flaring out as wide as it could go, before delivering a drop kick to the fool's back. Landing with the grace of a cat, he waited for the balding man to turn around to look at him before straightening up so he could loom over the man for maximum intimidation effect.

"Wha-wha-what the h-hell are you!?!" the man screamed in inquiry as he scrambled away on his back rather than getting fully back to his feet.

"I'm what fear looks like." He replied, not even bothering to suppress the deep mysterious voice his enhancement from Bruce Wayne compelled him to use when in costume.

He kept his response short and to the point since he knew that anything more would ruin the whole otherworldly atmosphere that he wanted to use to surround the man. Instead he merely advanced upon the man, moving in such a way so as to increase the fear the moron was feeling, until he was right next to his prey. He was all ready to deliver a knockout blow when in a final move of panic the fool backed into a table and a wrench fell on his head, knocking the forty-something guy out cold. Not precisely what he was hoping for to end his premiere amongst the criminal element but he supposed it would have to do for now. Quickly tying the man up, he decided it was time to gift wrap the crooks for the police and then make sure that they actually came down here rather than let the locals handle the defeated. Flipping through the memories, he decided on the best arrangement and got to work retrieving the various hoods from their places.

After all, presentation was everything and he wanted to make an impression on the police of New York along with the criminal element.

_**New York City, Hell's Kitchen, One Hour Later, Daredevil aka Matt Murdock's P.O.V**_

_Looks like there's a new player in town._ Matt thought as he looked down from across the street at one of Silvermane's warehouses that was completely surrounded by patrol cars.

He had been patrolling the neighborhood, the same as he did every other night, when his superhuman ears heard the sounds of police sirens approaching Hell's Kitchen. That wasn't so odd as the fact that there was more than one or two of them that was the norm for the area, considering how dangerous it was to anyone below S.W.A.T level. This time, however, there were at least five and that attracted his attention more than anything else since it meant that something serious had occurred. Changing the direction of his leaps across the rooftops, he decided to follow them and that had pretty much brought him to where he was right now. With his superior sense of hearing he was easily able to overhear every word that was spoken by the officers below as if they were right next to him. Apparently someone had assaulted the warehouse below and defeated over twelve men with various weapons at their disposal without getting hit once. The officers first on the scene found all of them hanging from the roof supports like slabs of meat in a meat packing plant but not one of them was seriously harmed. Sedatives, punches to the jaw and mild-to-moderate electrocution rounded out the tools that had been used to bring the criminals down. Some would require a little time in a hospital bed but otherwise would be fit for trial for their crimes. There were signs of a gunfight but, from the array of holes in the wall, it looked as though the henchmen of Silvermane had been firing at random rather than at a foe they knew the location of. The most interesting bit of information, though, was what the police had found sticking out of the main fuse box of the warehouse since it pretty much acted as the perpetrator's calling card. A boomerang shaped like a bat had been embedded three inches into the box and there were signs of an electrical discharge as well. That was pretty much all the P.D had been able to uncover so far but it was enough to tell him many things about the new player.

It let him know that whoever it was possessed above average skill and a strategic mind. That was the only way one person could overcome twelve with no deaths or serious injuries on either side. He knew that this didn't necessarily mean that one man was responsible, there could have been many, but it was just his gut telling him that it was one person. There would have been some sign of more than one skilled warrior in the days or perhaps even weeks prior to this night that he would have caught wind of somehow. For something like this to drop out of nowhere to hit Hell's kitchen like this, it had to be a lone person who somehow had managed to enter the city unnoticed until now.

_I'll keep an eye out for this lone warrior._ He thought as he stood up so that he could resume his patrol.

He just hoped that when he met the man or woman responsible for thwarting this crime of Silvermane's, he or she didn't turn out to be more of villain than a hero.

_**High Above the Mediterranean Sea, Heading towards the Sea of Crete, One Week Later, Mid-Afternoon**_

_**Dawn Sandsmark's P.O.V**_

_I know I should be patrolling but I just can't until I find out whether my hunch is right or not._ She thought as she flew threw the sky at Concord speed towards her destination.

It had been bugging her ever since she'd first considered the possibility of other reality counterparts and it had gotten so bad lately that her mind wouldn't let her focus like it should on the task at hand. She had first caught sight of it when she had caught Giles on the computer looking through some files and one of names that stuck out in her mind was 'Jennifer Calender'. She exited the room immediately afterwards but she suspected that he'd known she was there the entire time, nevertheless she didn't inquire further on the matter but rather tried to figure things out on her own. Fortunately the former fifty-something person hadn't quite absorbed everything about Bruce Wayne, so it was still possible to predict what was going on inside his head. Rupert was looking for counterparts to the people they'd known back in their native reality, specifically those that had died over the past six years, on the off chance that old holes could be filled in. It had been that conclusion that had gotten her thinking about the other possibilities that she doubted very much had occurred to Batman just yet. The possibilities that were centered around the possibility of there existing counterparts to the heroes whose essences they had been given in order to fight Warren. After all, the ship they were on was living (metaphorically speaking) proof that it was possible since this was a Kryptonian ship and its A.I had identified Xander as Kryptonian. From that day forward, though, her mind had randomly been spitting out plans and ideas for locating all the people that Cassandra had known in her reality. True, some of them were not a possibility since they were either extra-terrestrial in nature or had simply been born as a result of unusual circumstances, but those that had been native to Earth and had lived a pretty normal life up until they got powers or joined the costume crowd were likely somewhere to be found on this world in this reality. With that idea in mind, she'd spent her off time trying to locate them and, once found, she would see if they were walking down the same path as they had in the DC universe or if they were leading completely different lives.

_Too bad some of them hadn't been born due to their parents never getting together like they had in the DC world._ She thought as she set the images from Cassie's memories over what her eyes were telling her.

Naturally she'd started her inquiries with members of the Teen Titans, both past and present, but so far the only members she could put a location to were Amy Allen, aka Bombshell, Virgil Hawkins, aka Static, and Victor Stone, aka Cyborg. The others were either going by different last names that she couldn't run down or simply had gone missing for one reason or another with the law enforcement people being clueless as to where they'd gone. She'd asked A.V.I.A to comb through her records and hack into whatever relevant databases she could to try and find them but so far, no luck.

That was why she was flying right now, to see if some of the most important people in Cassie's life existed in this reality, and she'd discover the truth in about two minutes. She was going to the one place that, as far as she knew, existed in just about every reality in the DC comics multi-verse so it made sense that it might exist here.

The place was Themyscira, home of the Amazon Nation.

It was on that island that Sandsmark's idols, Wonder Woman and the original Wonder Girl, had either come from or gained many of their skills from. It was also the place where Cassandra had gone from becoming a Donna Troy fangirl to an actual warrior capable of the sort of fighting she'd admired in her idols. These memories had driven her to see if the old training ground existed or if it was nothing more than a myth in this reality. She had already combed through the nautical records of the harbors surrounding the place where the island of the Amazon's resided but found nothing that could be considered confirmation. Reports of ships suddenly finding themselves in a separate section of the sea with a missing hour that they couldn't explain were pretty much the only thing she could find as far as evidence was concerned. Still, she'd learned through several discrete phone calls that there was an area of the Aegean Sea that the locals genuinely avoided when they could. Oh, they didn't give a supernatural reason for this, just a bunch of piss poor excuses, but still the area they avoided matched where Cassie's memories said Themyscira was supposed to be found. While not the hacker that Willow or Giles were now, she had still been able to look through the files of the various law enforcement branches in the surrounding area and no sign of a massive cover up or an ongoing investigation could be found. Still she supposed that in a world where mutants are popping up all over and there was a super power arms race going on, the oddity of a few forgetful sailors didn't rank very high.

Coming to a halt just shy of where she believed she'd hit the mystical barrier, which kept the island of the Amazon's hidden from Man's World, was located, she wondered what the reactions of the warrior women would be. Would Hippolyta and Diana be there? Maybe even Donna? Would they be like Cassie's memories made them out to be or would they be so completely different that she wouldn't want anything to do with them? These were the questions she asked herself as she tried to decide whether or not to start flying forward once more or call to A.V.I.A to open a portal to take her back to the ship. It was, after all, not her that lived the life of a demi-goddess daughter of Zeus and a member of a group of heroes called the Teen Titans. She might have the memories but that wasn't here and she had no reason to feel any obligations or ties to that life. Shaking her head at the whole line of thought, she decided that dancing around the subject wouldn't make it go away so with resolve forming on her face she flew forward.

When her perceptions began to become distorted after twenty feet of flying she knew that she had stumbled across something paranormal but that didn't necessarily mean she'd found what she'd been looking for. The disorientation lasted only for a few minutes before normality returned and a smile came to her face as she beheld a lush island filled with vegetation, with the odd bit of Roman architecture thrown about in a clearly organized manner. The sight of it was almost enough to cause her to swoop down to seek out the people from Cassie's memories but she restrained herself with the rational that they could very well be nothing like the people her memories portrayed them to be. Therefore she cautiously descended from the sky while using what Cassie knew about how the island was likely to be patrolled by guards to avoid detection. She didn't want to let them know she was here before she was certain that they were the sort of people she'd want to know and hang out with. It forced her to go a little slower that her curiosity would like but it paid off as she managed to leave the coastline behind and enter the woods. However, after five minutes of careful flight, she began to become suspicious of the island as she had yet to see or hear anyone at all. Not to knock her skills at stealth or anything, but Amazon warriors were among the best in the world when you took guns and bombs out of the picture. She would have expected to at least have a close call or two by now but it had been unusually quiet and she was beginning to get a bad feeling about all this.

Increasing the speed of her flight, she decided to head for the capital of the island, hoping that if she went there that she'd be able to run into **someone** that would rid her of this rising feeling of dread in her stomach.

Her concerns turned out to be well founded, though, because even as she reached the outer structures of the capitol she began to see signs of battle. Arrows sticking out of the ground, broken swords and the like became more common than usual for her eyes to pick up if the island was safe. Increasing her speed further and disregarding stealth entirely, she hurried to aid her warrior sisters that she was sure were in trouble. Concern became worry and worry became fear as not only weapons covered the ground but also pieces of the surrounding buildings that had been violently knocked off the stone structures. With her increasing fear, so too did her flying speed until the buildings around her became little more than blurs to her eyes. It was as she turned the corner, entering the central square where the Queen often spoke to her people as a whole, that she saw something that caused her to freeze in shock. Laid out on the ground throughout the square and, in some cases, hanging on the window ledges around the square were dozens if not hundreds of shriveled up mummy-like forms that looked like they'd fall apart at a touch. Not a shred of cloth clad their forms but she knew instinctively who lay dead before her and the sorrow was almost enough to bring her to her knees. She had no clue when this happened, much less how, but lost in her emotional turmoil the details didn't matter as much as the bottom line before her. Almost like a zombie she walked amongst the bodies, trying to identify those around her but it was almost impossible with so many identifying features gone. She didn't care that she had only known these people second hand through Cassie's memories because in the end they were her memories now and they meant just as much to her as the rest.

_What could have happened here?_ She thought as she moved unconsciously to the podium where Hippolyta was sure to have been during this calamity.

Her thoughts again became a storm when her eyes fell upon a golden tiara that lay on the ground next to a body that lay next to the podium and, unlike everything else, it seemed as though it could have been dropped only yesterday. It was the crimson star in the center of the front though that finally brought her to her knees though as the part of her that was Cassandra Sandsmark crumbled as the identity of at least one of the bodies was ascertained.

"Diana… **no**!" she whispered as she picked up the tiara looking at before down at the form of her predecessor's idol.

It was obvious to her eyes now that she had come here only to find out that she, through Cassie, was the only Amazon left in this world with the others being long dead due to some catastrophe. Out of some inner need, she gentled laid out the body of Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, out on the ground and, with the utmost care, placed the golden tiara back on the head of her namesake's mentor. A single tear traveled from her left eye and down her cheek before falling through the air to land on the motionless form before her, but she cared not. Her emotions had turned numb and now all she could feel was a detached nothingness that made her more akin to a robot than the young woman she was.

Rising into the air, she knew it was time to leave this place. While a part of her felt the desire to carry out a proper Amazon funeral service for them all, she very much doubted that she'd be able to keep herself together until the end. She knew that when she returned to the ship the others would notice the funk she was in but she knew just what she needed to clear what she was feeling out of her system.

She needed her Xander-shaped snuggle blanket. He'd make it all better...

_**The Island of Themyscira, Capitol City, Central Square, Ten Minutes Later**_

"So the time has finally come," spoke the beautiful brunette as she looked in the direction of the young woman, who was the first living person to set foot on the isle that would leave with her memory intact.

For over a thousand years this body of land had not had a single human being view its shores, much less step on them without having their memories wiped before they were returned to Man's World. She and her closest kin had made sure of this ever since the Twilight struck down the noble sisterhood of this island so as to ensure that evil did not get a chance to plunder its riches. Oh had she longed to enact a more practical way of keeping this paradise safe but her Lord Father had forbidden any of them from attempting to restore all to what it once was. She knew the reasons for this, had been able to feel the oily spell's power, and acknowledged that, given its nature, they could not take the chance that it would adapt to affect them. So it had been until ten minutes ago when a moment foretold by the Oracle of Delphi was fulfilled at long last. A young human woman who was more than a mere mortal but not a deity had come to the island to shed a tear for sister she both knew yet had never met before. With an unfamiliar power that the young woman likely underestimated the strength of, she had fragmented the Twilight into a single piece for every Amazon on the island.

Now was the time to act and she would not waste even a moment to ask for permission before acting.

Not this time.

_**Entering New York City from the West, Nine Days Later, Late Afternoon, Xander Kent's P.O.V**_

_MAN! It's been one helluva month! _Xander thought as he flew through the air into the Big Apple to prepare for his job interview, _Not exactly one problem after another but enough to keep every member of the league from getting bored anytime soon._

He himself had just come from dealing with a mudslide on the West Coast and while a quick dunk in a lake followed by a super speed spin had cleaned him up, he still found it remarkable how different it was from recalling being a superhero and actually being one. When he had initially pitched the idea of the Justice League Unlimited to the others, he'd been banking heavily on their inherited memories being sufficient to help them with whatever situation popped up. Unfortunately for him things were not quite that easy, or at least it wasn't for him given that he was the most powerful member of the League. He had caught himself on more than one occasion straying dangerously close to overdoing things with his powers, heat vision and strength being at the top of the list, but so far it hadn't cost anyone their lives. Still he would have to see, once he returned to the newly dubbed Justice League Command Ship, if A.V.I.A had any place on board that could serve as a training area for the team. While he hadn't heard anything from the others, he wouldn't be surprised if they were experiencing similar problems applying what they 'knew' in real life situations. They couldn't afford to slip up, whether it was when people watched them on the job or if they were completely on their own, because the work they were doing was very important and demanded that they take things seriously.

He was about halfway to the place where his job interview was scheduled when his super hearing picked up the sound of some serious tunneling going on and on a level that suggested that something big was doing the digging. Considering the fact that Batman hadn't informed them of anything that size occurring within the city limits that was authorized, he had little choice but to conclude someone was doing something **unauthorized**. Given the amount of resources to pull something like this off, he had a feeling he should look into this and so changed his flight plan to bring to where he could hear the noise. Looking ahead, he was curious as he discovered that the digging seemed to be come from beneath the same building that Warren had punched him into a month ago. He'd done some light research on it, just to see if he'd messed up anything important, and learned that it was some sort of military think tank where they gathered all the top child/teen prodigies for the purpose of nurturing their genius level intellects. He'd even managed to put a name to the blonde who he'd saved, just in case Buffy decided to make something of that kiss he received again, and it turned out she was the daughter of the head honcho, Frank Storm. Susan Storm was her name and, if the official websites were true, then she was easily on par with Willow, if not a bit smarter with all the doctorates she had. If he felt like a candidate for the short bus with his buddy Wills then being friends with Sue would make him think he should be treated like a five year old candidate for the short bus. Fortunately, though, that very fact would be all he needed to prove to Buffy that there was no chance whatsoever of something developing between him and the super genius blonde.

As he got close enough to see the front entrance, he watched as the street in front of the skyscraper exploded upwards for at least a block to reveal what looked like a cross between a dragon and a snake. Definitely bigger than Mayor Wilkins' ascended form, it quickly went to work voicing its displeasure by slashing at the surrounding buildings and roaring for all to hear. Seeing its right hand reaching for a bus, he swooped down in a burst of speed, grabbed hold of the appendage and stopped its movement a good three feet from the bus. It wasn't too difficult, certainly no more than pulling that cruise ship clear of the storm it had become trapped in, so with only a little more effort he pushed the clawed hand skyward, completely throwing the beast off balance. Deciding that a quick KO would be best to ensure that the property damage was kept to a minimum, he surged forward and dealt a blow a swift blow to its mid-section. He was encouraged by the fact that it bent over due the force of his strike but its recovery time was quicker than he'd expected and it swiped at him with its left claw followed by its tail. Naturally he was able to evade both fairly easily but, instead of hitting him, the attacks struck the cars that had been emptied upon the beast's arrival. The battlefield was simply too crowded with public property, private property and the few foolish civilians that lacked the intelligence to vacate the area when the massive damage began. He'd have to end this quickly if he wanted to keep the collateral damage to a minimum and that meant he'd have to be a bit more heavy handed than he wanted to be at this point. He didn't know a whole lot about what was going on and for all he knew this was just some innocent creature that had been provoked into coming to the surface. Nevertheless, what wasn't in doubt was that this creature needed to be stopped before even more damage was done to the city and innocent lives were lost.

He was just about to start laying on the hurt when a voice cut through the roaring attracting his attention for a moment.

"FLAME ON??!!" came a young male voice and, when he looked to the source, he saw a blonde teenager suddenly burst into flames from head to toe.

For a moment he thought that he had something else to worry about but, when the enflamed body changed directions mid-air and began to soar around under the young man's own power, he realized that he was looking at some sort of mutant or meta-human. It also sounded like the guy was experiencing his powers, or at least his ability to fly, for the first time, so he wasn't sure if the guy had any experience fighting something like this. He'd have to keep an eye out for the civvie while he took care of the big dragon-snake thing or else the young super powered young man would hurt either just flying around or trying to help. However that proved to be more difficult than he'd originally anticipated since the creature seemed to be attracted to flames the newbie was putting out. Deciding to take advantage of this he flew forward rapidly and began to deliver body blow after body blow in order to end this fight before the flaming flyer's growing confidence got the better of him.

A new player entered the battlefield a minute later when a man of rock leapt down at least a dozen stories to impact on the sidewalk none worse for wear despite the lack of thought put into the move from what his ears could pick up. While the guy looked tough, possibly as invulnerable as he was, it only meant that there would be one more person on the battlefield that he'd have to keep an eye out for along with taking down the creature itself.

Things were getting increasingly complicated.

WHAM!

Cursing himself for getting distracted, he quickly managed to arrest his descent and shook off the mild disorientation that the monster's blow caused him to feel. When he looked back up, though, he found that a third unknown meta had entered the battle with elastic or rubbery properties that allowed him to bounce around like a rubber ball. While most of him was annoyed at this, there was enough of his old self present that he knew he shouldn't be too hard on these guys for jumping into the thick of things. If he'd been given Superman's powers yesterday and a situation like this presented itself, he'd be compelled to intervene as well, especially if the first two civvies were friends. Didn't change the fact that he needed to bring this fight to an end before the trio's good intentions got them seriously hurt or killed. With that in mind he mentally removed the limiter he'd placed on his super strength for the purpose of capturing the creature alive and flew into battle with determination in his eyes. Arriving just in time to team up with the rock guy, together they deliver a one-two combo to the creature that looked like it almost took the monster's head off and almost certainly shattered its jaw. Watching as the lizard creature fell backwards into the hole it had sprung from, he lowered himself to its edge and used his telescopic vision to make sure that the life form didn't somehow recover without anyone realizing it.

Hearing the trio come up behind him he said, "Thanks for the assist you three. Things could've been a lot messier if you hadn't helped out when you did."

It wasn't quite the truth since he was fairly certain he could have taken down the giant monster on his own and that it would have only taken a few more minutes to do so than it had. Still, he didn't want the three of them to feel too intimidated around him so talking to them like they were comrades fighting the same good fight hopefully would ease the tension in the air. He was about to ask them if they knew anything about the monster, like where it came from or who might have sent it, but the sounds of rounds being chambered caught his attention before he could speak.

"Don't move, mutant!" Yelled a S.W.A.T officer who stood with at least six others, all of which had weapons trained on the four of them.

"Holy Mother of God!!" One of the officer's exclaimed apparently awed by the devastation to the surrounding area.

"Let the humans go and no one will get hurt." Declared the one apparently in charge through a megaphone.

When he heard with his enhanced hearing the S.W.A.T leader order his men to prepare to take the mutant down, though, he was dismayed that the law enforcement official was so quick to resort to force to resolve things. Moving to act as a shield, he was about to try and reason with the armed men but his actions were apparently not as peaceful looking as he'd intended them to be.

"Take'em down!!" Yelled the commander whose words were quickly followed by the firing of every gun in the area.

Deciding that showing these idiots just how out of their league they were might have been the only way to get the diplomatic ball rolling, he used his speed, his invulnerability and his strength to snatch every bullet out of the air. For a full minute the sounds of working firearms filled the air but the officers might as well have been firing spitwads at him for all the good it did. At the speed at which he was operating it looked like the rounds were moving in super slow motion making it simplicity itself to pluck them from the air as they got within range. Eventually this fact got through to the members of S.W.A.T attacking and the firing stopped as they no doubt wondered what the hell they should do now. He hoped they wouldn't compound their stupidity by bringing out the heavy artillery because that would only make things worse both for him as well as for them.

"CEASE FIRE!! CEASE FIRE!! UNITED STATES ARMY!!" Yelled a ranking military officer as he forced his way through to the police officers followed by lower ranked military personnel.

"Johnny!!" Came a cry of worry from a man he recognized as the father of Sue Storm.

"Flame off!" Cried the human effigy, aka Johnny Storm, after landing from his sudden flight in reaction to the attack by S.W.A.T. "Don't worry Dad. I'm alright. Blue Boy here had my back."

This caused the head of the Baxter Building to look to him and he knew that the lab coat wearing man recognized him instantly from their previous encounter during the Doomsday fight.

"Thank you! Thank you for protecting my boy!" Frank Storm declared while vigorously shaking his hand to emphasize his gratitude.

"Just doing my job, Mr. Storm." He said letting the man handshake himself out.

Seeing a soldier approaching out of the corner of his eye, he decided that this needed to be addressed first despite the fact that being thanked just now felt good.

"Doctor Storm, we really need to get this situation off the street." Said one of the army subordinates, pointing to the mess that had been made.

"But what was that thing?" Frank asked, obviously still a bit shaken up by this turn of events.

"We're not prepared to go public with you or any of this yet, we're going to have to—" replied the soldier, looking a little more insistent.

"Well, too late for that, slappy." Johnny said sarcastically while holding his arms wide as if to say 'how could anyone miss this'.

"Either way, we need to get you—" said the soldier, not willing to budge from the orders he'd no doubt been given.

"No. I don't think we're done here yet." Said Mr. Elastic as he looked back at the large hole where the creature had gone.

Getting an idea of where Glasses was going with that line of thought, he was treated to a unique point of view in which he could sympathize with what Giles must have gone through with the Scoobies but also what said Scoobies had been like before they racked up over five years of experience. It was then and there that he decided that whatever the three newly powered youths chose to do, he'd go along with them in order to keep them from biting off more than they could safely chew, given their inexperience. Plus he was sort of curious as to where the creature came from and if the surface world could expect more intrusions like that in the future.

"So, what was that? Reed?" Johnny asked as he joined his friend Reed in looking down the dark hole in the middle of the street.

"Why would you even ask me that?" Reed replied, looking at the blonde like it was ridiculous to even ask such a question, "How on Earth should I know?"

"Well, aren't you, like, smart?" Johnny asked, not understanding the difference between being smart and having all the answers.

"I don't even know what **we** are." Reed replied, humoring his obvious intellectual inferior.

"Well, all I know is with Blue Boy's help we kicked its butt up and down the street!!" Johnny crowed, glossing over something he didn't understand or particularly care about understanding.

"I can't even identify the source biology of that mutant creature. That was a…I'm…it…" Reed said before falling silent as his no doubt genius brain tried to comprehend what had just happened.

"Uh-oh, Reed's popped a cork." Said the son of Frank Storm, not encouraged by the fact that the egghead next to him was clueless.

"Johnny, I have studied biology every day of my life for fifteen years and I am telling you that no one on the planet Earth has ever seen anything **like** that before." Reed said, snapping out of his mind to defend his lack of data on the creature.

"As opposed to us." Said Mr. Rock moving closer to the edge of the hole, "Oh what the heck… let's find it and say hi to it."

"Yeah." Johnny said, endorsing the idea completely.

"Um…no…no, I changed my mind." Reed said sounding less sure of himself than before, "The cops…the Army will handle it"

"The cops?" Mr. Rock asked in disbelief, "Did you **see** that thing?"

"I'm afraid you're friend is right, Mr. Richards." He said, voicing his opinion on the matter, "While I might not be completely knowledgeable about what the army has at its disposal, I seriously doubt that they have subterranean travel vehicles or weapons that would easily be able to work on that thing."

"He's right, Reed. No offense to the army boys but that thing's way out of their league." Johnny said, immediately moving to back up his fellow comrade of adventure, "Besides what if that was Sue?"

_Huh? Where did that come from? _He thought as he turned to look and see if Johnny was being serious, _What does Sue Storm have to do with this? _

It was then that he realized that whatever had happened to give them their powers it had happened suddenly and not under controlled circumstances. That would explain their newness to their powers as well as the fact that they didn't know what effect the accident had had on Susan Storm. Recalling the creature, he didn't want to believe that it could be the pretty blonde girl he'd saved the day he arrived in this dimension but both his Xander memories as well as his Superman memories told him it was indeed possible. Just because something started out small and human didn't mean it couldn't be made otherwise with the right tools.

"That was **not** Sue." Reed stated firmly in a way that might imply that he had more than simple friendship existed between the two.

"Look! You guys do whatever you want." Mr. Rock said as he leapt into the hole, "I have more misplaced anger that I need to work off. You coming, Big Blue?"

"Right behind you." He said as he used his powers of flight to rise off the ground before lowering himself down into the hole after the blue clad rock man.

While he sort of thought that he should call in another member of the League just in case things got more dangerous down below but he doubted that the Johnny and the others would wait for reinforcements. That being the case he would have to be enough to keep them out of trouble as they ventured below the surface of the Earth. He would have to be enough to keep Johnny, Reed and Mr. Rock safe while they sought out the creature.

_**Thirty Minutes Later, Three Quarters of the Way Down the Hole, Reed Richards' P.O.V**_

"This is fascinating." Reed said as he examined the writings on the wall that he and Ben were climbing down in pursuit of the giant creature.

"Yeah? Which part?" Ben asked as the man's stony hands dug into the side of the hole for purchase.

"Absolutely fascinating. The walls…these markings…These markings are from a culture that I have never studied before." He replied almost absentmindedly as his mind tried to make sense of what his eyes were perceiving, "I wonder if they are—"

"How far down are we?" Ben asked, breaking off his friend's response before it got to be too much for him to comprehend.

"Maybe we lost it." Johnny said as he provided some illumination for everyone to see by using his flame form.

"Nope. It's about three hundred meters below us and it looks like it's crawling away." Said the caped man, who'd introduced himself as Superman, "Guess we only dazed it or it received one helluva wake up call when it landed at the bottom."

"You can see it?" Ben asked, looking down into the darkness that was beyond his ability to pierce with his own eyes.

"Yep. These eyes don't miss much." Superman replied nonchalantly as though it was perfectly natural for someone to be able to see three hundred meters down into a darkness enshrouded hole.

It was one of the many oddities that he'd noticed about their mysterious ally and, while he didn't necessarily believe the young man, who looked to be only a year or two older than him, had ill intentions, he was most definitely a puzzle. The man clad in a crimson cape possessed strength easily on par with, if not exceeding, what Ben was now capable of and could move at speeds that made plucking bullets out of the air only mildly taxing at best. Add to that the power of flight and a level of durability that was astonishing, the man of the S shield was an entire encylopedia set full of mysteries that was causing a serious itch to build up in his mind. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, so many tests he wanted to run, but he knew that now was not the time for that. It was taking just about every speck of willpower he had to just keep his scientific curiosity down to where it was with so many new phenomena being presented to him in the space of the last twenty-four hours.

_Maybe Superman would consent to a few cursory scans once this is all over with._ He thought as they continued down the supposed three hundred meters to the bottom of the hole.

He knew that he would have to phrase the request in as inoffensive a manner as possible since he'd learned both from Ben and Johnny that being treated like a lab rat wasn't a pleasant experience. While difficult, considering he was more at home amongst laboratory equipment then people, it would not be an insurmountable obstacle. Even now he was beginning to formulate just the right combination of words, phrases and questions that would hopefully bring about the required end result. In a way, just about everything in the universe could be explained or controlled if one looked at all of it like one big experiment with a multitude of definable variables. In this case Superman behaved much like your typical human male of his apparent age and personality type so that, combined with a suitably facilitating environment, should be sufficient for his words to have the desired effect.

"Yeah, well, not to be all Han Solo on you guys…" Johnny said with a little more unease than usual in his voice, "…but I got a bad feeling about this. And Reed's on a field trip."

"I'm sorry. But you can't deny that this is a fascinating discovery." Reed said with a bit of exasperation at the fact that his friends couldn't appreciate the size of the discovery they were making.

"Bet I can." Ben said promptly making it sound like he meant every word.

"Look at the patterns on this—" he said trying to point out to them what made the writing on the walls so interesting.

"Reed, can you hold in the nerd until we're like, on land?" Johnny asked sounding like he'd tune out whatever was spoken one way or another.

With a slight 'hmph' he decided he would concede to Johnny's request for the time being since it would likely prove counterproductive to their venture if they started arguing amongst themselves. It took them another twenty or thirty minutes to reach the bottom of the hole but it was so dark that the only thing allowing them to see anything was the limited illumination that the Storm boy's fire powers were providing for them. Unfortunately this luminescence only reached out about ten or fifteen feet around them and he had a distinct feeling that this left quite a bit of space for something to hide in.

"Johnny, can you burn brighter?" he asked, wanting to get a better lay of the land.

"Definitely a good idea considering we're surrounded." Superman said, floating about a foot off the ground, looking a bit tense.

With these words the light from the flames did burn brighter, showing everyone precisely what the flyer meant. All around them, some on the ground while other hung from supports in the cavernous ceiling, were these odd creatures that looked somewhat humanoid but appeared to be made out of mud. In a way he was much reminded of the mythical clay golems of Jewish folklore, albeit decidedly cruder than the illustrations he'd seen in various books. There had to be hundreds of them spread out all around and it would put them at a distinct tactical disadvantage if matters devolved into some manner of altercation. True, they had Superman as backup, but with the full extent of the man's abilities unknown, it was debatable if they would be enough to hold back the throng that surrounded them.

"Guys…" Johnny said as he used his flame tentatively to keep the humanoid mud people from getting too close.

"Yeah?" he asked as his mind tried to figure out the scientific details of the creatures both for practical tactical use as well as for later consideration.

"This is a really weird day." Johnny replied with his unease going up another notch.

"How so?" Ben asked, looking like he was ready to start throwing punches at a moment's notice.

"Reed, being that you have this huge, giant brain… PLEASE tell me you know…" Johnny said, looking for some sort of factor or word of wisdom to help him get a grip in things.

"Johnny, I have no idea what these creatures are." He declared, deciding that it was pointless to needlessly sugercoat things.

"Fantastic." Came a familiar voice off to the far side near where he could see an opening into another section of the cavern, "Truly fantastic."

"Reed?!!" Came an even more familiar voice that reminded him that there had been one final missing member that had been affected by his failed teleportation experiment in the desert.

"Sue!?" Johnny asked with some surprise at being reunited with his sister.

Looking in the direction of the voice they found Sue still clad in the outfit she'd worn to the experiment but being restrained by more of the golem-like creatures that surrounded them still. However, standing very much like the leader or the father of this brood, was an ugly man clad in tattered green clothes with a cane of some sort in one hand. There was an eerie feeling of familiarity about the man but he just couldn't connect the dots.

"What you four have become… and what your new friend is… is nothing short of fantastic." Said the unknown man with a smile, "I told you, children. I told you, you were the future. I told you."

"You?!! Reed?!? Johnny?!?" Sue exclaimed with surprise at the arrival of two people that she knew well as well as two that she knew less about.

"SUE!!" Johnny yelled as his flames kicked up to a decidedly higher level than before forcing anyone within five feet of him to put some more distance between them and him.

_**Underground Network of Caverns, Far Beneath the Baxter Building, Same Time, Sue Storm's P.O.V**_

_What are they doing here!? What is __**he**__ doing here!?!_ Sue thought as she looked at the four people surrounded by Dr. Molekevic's creations.

It had been a bizarre couple of hours as she not only found herself underground rather in the desert where she'd been, but also possessing the ability to turn herself invisible. The former was disturbing and, as for the latter, she hadn't quite gotten the knack for it just yet. It seemed to be tied to her emotional state somehow but that was far from being able to turn it on or off like a light switch. However, at the moment, she didn't care because with her brother's pyrotechnic display, the abominations restraining her had other problems to deal with allowing her to pull herself free of their grasp. Running for the group of allies, she watched as the caped hero that had saved her from falling to her death only a month ago floated downwards to land on the ground. Throwing herself into his arms, she tried to embrace the feeling of safety that she had felt after he had caught her during their initial meeting four weeks ago. It struck her as a little odd that he seemed hesitant to wrap his arms around her and, for a moment, she thought that perhaps she was being a little too forward with him but when she opened her eyes she saw that she had been invisible for a moment.

"S-sorry about that. I'm okay…" she said as she tried to will herself into being completely visible once again, "Hold on, I have to concentrate…"

Once she was sure with her own eyes that she was one hundred percent visible again, she looked around at the others and could see the shock on their faces. That was understandable, considering that she'd vanished from their sight for a time there, but looking at Reed she could see a bit of anger in his eyes if she looked at him just right. It took her a moment to realize that the reason for this was because she was still in the arms of her own personal knight, acting like they were officially a couple even though this was the first time they'd seen each other since they'd first met. Stepping back a moment, she realized that they had slightly more pressing matters than her still-strong crush on this god of a man before her.

"Uh… did you just turn invisible?" Johnny asked, obviously wanting to stay with the safest topic.

"Are you on fire?" she asked turning her sibling's own question back on him.

"Kinda." John replied, sounding unsure of what more needed to be said.

"What happened to you guys?" she asked as her scientists mind woke up a bit.

"You turned invisible!" Reed exclaimed, obviously still theorizing inside his own head.

It was one of the things that she both liked and hated about the bespectacled young man. On the one hand he was indeed a genius on par with herself and it was often quite interesting to discuss science with him, whether it was one of their own projects or simply something they saw on TV. At the same time, though, the Richards guy, who seemed so at home with test tubes and microscopes, seemed clueless when it came to interacting with people and showed little understanding of the word tact. In fact the few times she had tried to invite him for some hanging out to get to know him better, he'd been so embroiled in his latest set of equations that he hadn't even noticed her no matter how she spoke to him. It made her wonder if it would take a supermodel dancing in nothing but a G-string in front of him to get him thinking about something other than science and start taking a more active interest in living people.

"As your teacher… I feel I must explain to you how truly dangerous and careless that accident of yours was." Said Molekevic with a stern tone in his voice, "You now have these magnificent powers but it could have been dangerous had things been different. Next time you and I will…"

"Dr. Molekevic?" Reed asked as if finally figuring out who they were up against for the first time.

Yet another sign that Reed needed to be more aware of the world around him as well as the people in it. While it was true that their former instructor was decidedly different from how he used to be, he had enough distinctive features that identifying him hadn't been hard at all for her upon awakening. Reed had been here for almost a full five minutes and been aware of Molekevic for three of them but only now was putting the name to the face.

"Yes, young Dr. Richards, this is our reunion. Finally." Molekevic said, taking on a more formal tone, "I have so looked forward to this moment and, while the presence of this stranger was not anticipated, I will allow him to stay. I was most impressed by how he managed to stand up to my creation."

"What-what have you done here?" Reed asked, looking about at the creations of the deranged doctor.

"What I have done is create a world that we, men of science, can—" he replied, sounding for all the world like a giant in the field of science.

"Don't listen to him. He's totally our of his mind!!" she said, turning to the others but keeping her eyes mostly on her crush, "First he kidnapped me!! He created this underworld nightmare-he's totally obsessed with you and my Dad—"

"SUSAN!!" Molekevic yelled, obviously not pleased that the truth was getting out.

"He **monitors** us. He's hooked into the Baxter Building mainframe and I'm—" she said before being interrupted again but nevertheless she plunged onward, "I'm not entirely sure but he **may** have sabotaged the experiment just to get us here to—"

"**Susan!!**" Molekevic bellowed, unwilling to be ignored any longer, "You ugly girl. You would so quickly betray my emotions and confidence?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, letting the horrid mad know just how she felt about him.

"I took you in!" he replied angrily at the asking of such a foolish question.

"You **kidnapped** me and destroyed any sense of a normal life we—" she yelled back at him cutting through his self-serving lies like wet tissue paper before a fact caused her to pause, "Hold on!! What is that?"

"That's Ben Grimm." Reed replied quietly so as not to make a big deal of things.

"Oh…uh, hey." She said, uncertain of how to talk to someone she'd just called a 'that' rather than a 'him'.

"Yeah, thanks." Ben said with some traces of hurt but not much.

"You're okay in there?" she asked, wondering if it was just some sort of rock armor suit or if it was a fully transformed person.

"We'll…hold on, Sue, I don't understand." Reed said sounding confused by something before he turned to Dr. Molekevic, "Doctor, how is it that you are here? What is this place? How long have you been down here?"

"I am a doctor and a scientist." Molekevic said icily as he glared at them, "When you were children I would tolerate your immature insubordination, but now I have to insist on your respect and—"

"What is this?" Johnny asked as if noticing Molekevic for the first time himself.

Her brother was yet another person who needed to be a bit more observant but, in his case, the reason was because her brother's ambition to be the next Tony Stark, minus the actual scientific acumen, kept him from applying himself to his studies.

"I'm telling you!! He's nuts and he did all this because he thinks we're his 'pals', or something, and he wants us to help him get Dad back for firing him." She said, summarizing things in a way that her sibling could understand.

"What?" John asked rhetorically with disbelief at the very idea.

"I know." She said sympathizing with her brother on this since she found the idea ridiculous herself.

"Dude, my Dad fired your butt, like, a hundred years ago." Johnny said, easily exaggerating the time that had passed.

"Doctor, these creatures…" Reed tried to ask but was cut off before he could get any momentum going.

"Dude, let it go." Johnny said, reminding Richards that they weren't here as guests.

"Mr. Storm is right Mr. Richards." Stated her Crush as he stepped to the front of their group, "I somehow doubt that Dr. Molekevic's current mood is going to make getting answers out of him very easy. Best to wait until we're back topside with him before we start with the twenty questions bit."

"BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Molekevic began to yell at the top of his lungs as the situation was obviously pushing the madman over the edge.

This went on for a bit before the doctor began to mutter to himself, something about them not listening, but to tell the truth she didn't very much care. While this man might once have been one of her mentors, it was obvious that time had not been kind to him, much less his time down here with only his creations to keep him company.

"Doctor, um, you've been down here a long time…" Reed said, taking a stab at diplomacy and reason, "We'll take you to the surface, we'll help you explain…"

"Don't…!" Molekevic declared with some bitterness at being treated like he needed help.

"We're not trying to offend you, Doctor." Said her Crush as he reached out with one hand, "But I'm sure that a scientist such as yourself knows the harm that long term isolation can have on the human mind. You're not well, sir."

"Hmph! So disappointing." Molekevic said as he continued to fade into a darker area of the cavern, "I had such hopes and dreams for us. My children… eat them, kill them, whatever you desire. They are useless to me. Like all the rest."

With these words the various creatures began to close in on the five of them despite Johnny's flames and they did not look like they wanted to play nice.

"Children? Now he thinks we're his children?" Johnny asked incredulously at yet another impossibly idiotic statement.

"He wasn't talking to us." She said before pointing at the abominations that were seconds away from being able to reach out and claw at someone.

"Yo, Reed? Blue Boy?" Ben asked as he moved closer to the rest of them for defensive purposes, "Are these things human?"

"Best guess, no. No, they're mostly plant I think." Reed replied while not letting his eyes stray from the creatures.

"I might not be the science whiz Mr. Richards is, but both my X-Ray vision and micro vision aren't finding a single thing that matches what they taught me a human should have in school." Replied her Crush as he lifted off the ground a bit to get a better view of things, "If these things were human once upon a time, the changes that've been done to them are thorough and complete. It's more likely they're just mindless drones the Mole Man cooked up in a test tube."

"X-Ray vision? You mean you can—" Johnny began to ask before stopping at a glare from her.

She could just imagine what immature uses her brother would have put such an ability to but, at the same time, she had to wonder if the young man she currently lusted after was anything like that. Had he used his X-ray vision to take a peek at what she looked like under her clothes? NO! She refused to believe that the guy she had growing feelings for would be that much of a pervert. Granted, she might not have dated much, but none of the guys she had ever gone out with had been dumped because they were lecherous old men on the inside. No, it was more a case of them being intimidated by her intellect and the occasional time when she had to break off a date to get back to the Baxter building for some reason or other. If she got a moment to speak to her crush and at least get his name out of him, she would make sure that the relationship she built between the two of them would be better than that.

"Whatever. At least knowing these things ain't human means it's time to--!!" Ben said as the horde finally went on the attack, "No, it's time to--!! Oh hell! I'll work on a superhero catchphrase later!!"

With those words the fight was on in earnest and none of them could afford to spare a moment for more than the occasional warning or question about the location of Dr. Molekevic.

_**The Caverns Beneath the Baxter Building, One Minute Later, Johnny Storm's P.O.V**_

_MAN! Is there anything that Superman __**can't**__ do?_ He asked as he continued to dive bomb the mole things or throw off some that had managed to latch onto him.

It had only been a minute or so since the fighting began but already he was beginning to feel more like the half-assed sidekick to Superman's main hero status. Not only was the guy as strong as Ben, could fly so fast he left people eating dust, was invulnerable and had like fifty different types of vision but apparently the blue clad guy could also blow people away like leaves in a tornado. It was like he was untouchable! This was not doing wonders for his self-image so he decided to focus more on his own ass-kicking duties so he could soak up some more ego stroking sights. It wasn't that he was arrogant or anything, but rather that he needed something of a pick me up when he was surrounded by geniuses all day. He wasn't dim or anything but he definitely wasn't the same as Reed or that Van Damme guy. Even Sue, his own sister, was leagues above him and so he had to find something that he could do well that they couldn't. Considering that Reed thought that two C cups plus a D cup equaled an E cup rather than a seriously good time with the ladies those cups belonged to meant it'd be people he'd be good with. While all the eggheads messed with their beakers and test tubes, he'd be the PR guy living it up in front of the cameras and dating the supermodels. He'd be the blonde Tony Stark! A tad ambitious, yes, but so long as none of the interviewers asked him to solve complex formula on live TV, he'd be alright.

Looking down at his sister, though, he could see that she and Superman were sticking pretty close together. With a smile, he could see a couple in the making no two ways about it. While she hadn't been obvious about it the past four weeks, there had been enough episodes of her staring off into space daydreaming that he'd known that heart-shaped thoughts were floating through her mind. He hadn't actually known **who** it was she was crushing over but it was definitely romance going on behind her eyes rather than something like clothes or some award she wanted to be awarded. It wasn't until just a little while ago when she'd thrown herself into the arms of Superman that it'd all clicked together and he had to say he liked the match. The two of them looked good together but something told him that it'd be a rocky start, one way or another. This, of course, was because of the look he'd seen in Reed's eyes and it'd almost been enough to get him to shake his head at the guy. He'd known that the egghead felt something towards his sister and had even encouraged him here and there, but that was only because he wanted his sis to have a life outside of science. Now, though, it looked like the young genius' moments of hesitation and anxiety had finally cost him because, unless something big happened, Sue was going to latch onto Superman with everything she had. He hadn't seen her this focused on something since she'd aimed for her first doctorate and she'd almost worked herself to exhaustion with that.

As an ominous rumbling began to flow through the air, he stopped his assaults on the monsters for a moment, getting yet another Han Solo feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Ben, stop fighting!! The entire structure is collapsing over our heads!!" Reed yelled stretching himself close to where Grimm was throwing punches.

"AAGGHH!!" came a bellow from Moley, who looked like he was about to get buried under tons of rock and tech junk, "NOOOOO!"

Flying in close to the others in case they needed him, even he had to admit that the big orange machine had overdone it a little with his ass kicking.

"AIEE!!" came a female scream that he surprisingly traced to his sister but the reason for it became clear when Supes swooped down to knock aside a pillar that had been about to fall on her.

He almost said something right then about her really liking the guy to play the damsel in distress role but decided to keep that little comment to himself. Sue wasn't the type to cut him any slack if he made fun of something she was really into and, judging by how she was glomped onto Superman at the moment, it was clear she liked him **a LOT**.

As the ground below them and the ceiling above them became more and more unstable, it was clear that they had to start looking for a way out soon or they'd wind up buried. Reed, their ultimate brainiac, was still trying to convince Moley to come with them back to the surface to get the head shrinkage plus bath package that he so obviously needed. Judging from the scream of dying defiance, though, it sounded like the ugly dude decided he'd prefer being squishified to any sort of assistance from them. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see that Supes wanted to fly to the guy's rescue but he was busy smacking aside any pieces of stone that got to close to the rest of them. As fast as this guy might be, it looked like he didn't think he'd be able to be in two places at once in order to save everyone. He could sympathize with the guy, he didn't think Moley deserved to die either, but everyone's got limits to what they can do and that was just the way the world was sometime.

As seconds passed the amount of falling rock coming down on them became too much for even Superman to handle, even though he was moving so fast all he was to normal eyes was a blur of blue and red. However, just as he thought they'd all be crushed, finally and for good, something distinctly dome shape yet invisible seemed to keep all the heavy stones away from them for a good couple feet both above as well as to the sides.

"Uh, Sue, did you just do that?" Reed asked, looking about at yet another puzzle he'd be spending time in the lab pondering.

"I think so." Sue replied, sounding a little unsure of the answer she'd just given.

"How?" he asked wanting something a little more boosting to his odds of survival.

"It looks like she's projecting some sort of invisible force field." Superman replied, looking around and likely seeing something that the rest of them would need equipment to perceive, "A perfect dome in shape and quite strong, considering the amount of rock on top of it."

"Can you get us **out**?" he asked, feeling that this was probably the most important question of the pile he currently had bouncing around his head.

"Maybe. If I'm right Sue can probably shape the force field into any form she wants." Superman said as he wrapped his right arm around Sue's waist, "If you all grab onto me and if Sue keeps us surrounded by the force field, I can probably get us back to the hole we came down and get us all back to the surface."

"Then let's do it. I don't want to spend another moment down here." Sue said as she wrapped her own arm around Superman's waist, "All aboard everybody!"

With the only person showing reluctance being Reed, they eventually all had a firm grip on the superhero and, with only a little effort on Sue's part, they were quickly airborne. Moving through all the rock proved to be a bit harder but it looked like Blue Boy's theory about the force field his Sis was putting out was accurate. It was strong enough to hold up against several tons of rock and, with Cape boy adding his own muscle, it only took them ten minutes to reach the hole they'd come down. From there it was a mere thirty seconds before they were once again topside and surrounded by army boys, yelling at them to keep their hands up or freeze.

"Put those guns down! Those are my children you're aiming them at!" Dad yelled as he pushed his way through the ranks of soldiers until he was right next to them.

"You heard the man! At ease!" yelled General Ross, who was the ranking officer on site and thus their commanding officer.

This was met with a bit of grumbling but the toy soldiers apparently knew where defiance would get them, so one by one they all went off to do other things, like securing the perimeter or something. However, with them gone, Ross could now focus all his attention on the five of them and that sort of had him wanting the trigger happy soldiers back.

"Now what in Sam Hill happened down there?!" Ross asked, not directing his question to any one person but the five of them as a whole.

"Well, General, the creature that came to the surface here was apparently a creation of Dr. Arthur Molekevic, whom I believe you know, sent to retrieve Mr. Richards and Mr. Storm here." Superman replied, taking the bulk of the glaring Ross was generating, "He had already acquired Ms. Storm and wanted a complete set of former students. He apparently wanted them to side with him in a vendetta of sorts against those in charge of the Baxter Building as revenge for the termination of his employment there. All three declined, he didn't take it well and, well, a fight broke out between us and Molekevic's creations. We managed to get out of there and here we are."

"And the current status of Molekevic?" Ross asked with some hostility to the largely unknown quantity.

"Mr. Richards here was the last one to see him." Superman replied turning to look at Reed.

"He fell into a chasm, sir." Reed said, sounding like he'd failed somehow, "I tried to use my powers to save him but his rate of descent was greater than the speed at which my limbs could extend."

"Hmph." Was all Ross could say but it didn't look like the General was particularly sorry to hear that Molekevic had most likely died.

"Well, now that this matter has been resolved I'm afraid I must be going." Superman said as he rose into the air slowly, "I have a patrol to complete and then some traditionally tedious paperwork to fill out."

"Paperwork?" Ben asked, sounding like he couldn't see the connection between being a superhero and having to do paperwork.

He had to admit that he was having some trouble himself since, in all the time he'd read comic books or watched cartoons featuring superheroes, there was never a scene where the hero had to do paperwork.

"Yes. The Justice League has a bureaucracy just like any other organization." Superman replied while reaching into a compartment on his belt for something, "This doesn't get into the fine details but it should give you the basic gist of what we're all about."

Tossing a folded up piece of paper to Sue, he vanished in a blur of motion that made it impossible for Ross to say or do anything to make the powerful being stay for an official debriefing. Deciding that he was more curious about the paper than listening to a rant by Thunderbolt Ross, he looked over his sister's shoulder as she unfolded it. What he saw written on it made just about everyone's eyebrows rise up and a thoughtful look appear on their faces.

**JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED**

**THIS IS OUR DECLARATION TO THE PEOPLE OF THE PLANET EARTH.**

**WE SOLEMNLY SWEAR TO DO OUR BEST TO SERVE AND PROTECT THIS WORLD, TO HELP AVERT TRAGEDY, AND TO FIGHT AGAINST THE DARKNESS THAT PREYS UPON THE INNOCENT. WE SWEAR ALLEGIENCE TO NO ONE COUNTRY BUT RATHER TO THE PLANET AS A WHOLE. WHILE WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO WORK WITH THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD IF LAWS, POLICIES OR PROTOCOL GO AGAINST THE COMMON GOOD WE WILL DO WHAT WE MUST. WE HOPE IN TIME THAT YOU WILL ALL COME TO TRUST US.**

**SO SWEARS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED.**

"Cool! I wonder if they're recruiting anytime soon." Was all he could say to the idea of an international superhero team making its debut.

_**The Skies Above New York City, Two Days Later, Elizabeth 'Buffy' Hol's P.O.V**_

"Watchtower to Hawkgirl." Came the voice of Giles over their earplug-like communications gear.

"Hawkgirl here. What's the what, Bats?" she replied after pressing on the center button of the device in her ear.

"We have a tech terrorist situation in progress. A man by the name of Dr. Otto Octavius has seized control of the new alternative energy power facility in the harbor," Batman replied with not even a crumb of annoyance at his new nickname or her poor grammar. "He hasn't made any demands as of yet but, considering he brutally murdered at least four people on camera in front of a group of reporters, I doubt he's there to launch a peaceful protest."

"Ya think!?" she asked rhetorically almost rolling her eyes, "So standard swoop in and save the day?"

"For the most part, yes, but be careful. Based on the footage I have the man has at least four extendable metallic tentacles at his disposal aside from the appendages he was born with." Giles replied while no doubt attempting to gather more information, "They were originally designed by him to manipulate volatile and potentially toxic materials but he's managed to effectively turn them into weapons. I would recommend you let Miss Martian take the lead and hang back as her backup."

"What, you don't think I can handle one nutty professor with a couple of mechanical arms?" she asked, somewhat insulted that he thought so little of her abilities.

"The interior of the dome facility isn't flyer friendly, especially those with wings. Your maneuverability would be severely limited and considering that his tentacles can extend up to twenty-six feet and are every bit as flexible as organic tentacles, you would be at a distinct disadvantage." Batman replied, not noticing her raised ire one bit, "Miss Martian's shapeshifting abilities, phasing and super speed would be more effective in protecting her from Octavius' attacks."

"Oh. I guess that's alright." She said, feeling a little awkward now that Giles had backed up his plan with facts, "Anything else we should know?"

"The NYPD are sending two choppers with S.W.A.T teams as we speak and they should arrive about the same time you do. Be careful." Ruper Wayne replied with conveyed concern, "We still haven't gotten a good enough handle on this world's reaction to us to know how the police will react when they see you. Be prepared to take evasive action."

"Got it. Hawkgirl out." She said terminating the connection before turning to Anya, who was her patrol partner today, "Trouble at that big dome building in the harbor. Some crazy scientist—"

"—named Octavius is pulling the usual villain schtick with four telescoping mechanical limbs. I know." Anya finished, sounding a little impatient.

"How? I… You weren't snooping around my head, were you?" she asked, implying consequences if the answer was yes.

"No Batman included me in the transmission making it into a conference call." Anya replied, sounding insulted that someone would think her a mental peeping tom, "I just decided to let you guys do all the talking."

"Fine then. Let's go." She said, altering her flight path to take her to the dome shaped energy plant.

She knew she should have apologized to Anya but she was still feeling awkward for misinterpreting Giles' strategy and finding out she'd jumped to conclusions about Anya hadn't made things any better. Besides which, considering how Anya acted pre-empowerment, it wouldn't have been too big a leap to think that she might use her newly acquired telepathy to somehow peer into the minds of others for her own benefit. The former Vengeance demon-turned-human-turned-Martian would probably fail to see the problem with using her powers that way so long as it didn't cause any lasting harm. Tact and the usual human customs were often lost on the woman and, while she'd seen some improvement since inheriting the memories, skills and abilities of the Martian Manhunter, she still didn't believe that the tactlessness was gone. Still, until it got them into trouble, she guessed she'd keep her mouth shut on the matter as best she could and try to trust her teammate more. They'd only started going on two person patrols yesterday and she knew that trusting your partner could mean the difference between life and death in situations like this.

It took about three minutes before they reached the island upon which the energy facility was built and just, like Batman had said, there were two S.W.A.T choppers also on the approach as well as some news helicopters. What was a little surprising, though, was the person hanging from a rope of some kind attached to the underside of one of the police helicopters. Dressed in red and blue spandex with a spider theme was the costumed hero known as Spider-man and, while obviously not much older than she was when she'd been Called as the Slayer, he had a decent enough rep despite the slandering the Daily Bugle did. However it looked like the guy was having second thoughts about the idea of catching a ride to the island on the copter. It only got worse, though, when one of the idiots on the police chopper opened fire on the webhead, missing the kid only by the smallest of margins. Deciding this was completely inappropriate behavior for law enforcement officers, she didn't say a word to Anya before diving down with her mace wound up and ready to swing.

"Why don't you shoot at someone whose armed officer!?" she asked rhetorically before using her mace to smash the guy's rifle to pieces, "HAH!"

Knowing that she was risking receiving fire from the other copter, she was quick to get out of effective range of their weapons but, turning around, she found that she needn't have worried since Anya had taken up a position that would prevent the police officers from getting a clear shot at her.

_You're welcome, now how about you help the little boy clinging to his webline for dear life and get him down to the dome below. _Came Anya's definitely impatient thoughts telepathically, _I'll keep these guys busy._

_Right._ She thought back before descending to where the wall crawler was watching them.

"Need a lift, buddy?" she asked, doing her best New York cabbie impersonation.

"Youbetcha! Terra firma please and please mind the speed limit!" Spider-man replied before latching onto her shoulders and glomping onto her.

"No problem." She said, uncomfortably aware of where his hands were close to, "Just remember to keep your hands to yourself, 'kay?"

"N-no problem." Replied the webhead, hastily putting his hands in the least offensive spots possible.

_Definitely a guy who's never had a girlfriend before and probably a virgin too. _She thought as she extended her wings a bit more and began to slowly float down to the ground in a spiral pattern.

As soon as she touched down, the webhead was rather quick to disengage from her and she had to keep her amusement restrained to a simple grin as she could just imagine what was going through the kid's head. In a way his actions sort of reminded her of Xander whenever the subject of girls and sex came into the picture, but that was more early Xander than the most recent up-to-date version. If there was one good thing about the relationship that Anya had had with her Xander-shaped friend it was making it harder to embarrass the guy. Maybe she should see if there were any verbally blunt and tactless teenage girls around and then hook her up with the webhead.

It'd be amusing to watch if nothing else.

_You can play matchmaker later!_ Anya's voice rang sternly in her head, _The cops are currently distracted so let's get inside and deal with this Octopus guy before they get their acts together._

Looking up, she was dumbfounded to see that both of the helicopters carrying the police officers seemed to be performing some sort of aerial ballet comprised of artful swoops and dives as well as some interesting near misses. It was so decidedly un-police-like and weird that it made her wonder what precisely Anya'd done to them to get them to behave like that.

Then she remembered what happened the last time she'd asked Anya to explain one of her plans and decided that she was better off just accepting that this idea had worked before moving quickly along.

"Do I want to know why the police are putting on their own air show?" Spider-man asked, sounding as confused as she was.

"Not if you want to keep your head from exploding." She replied before hefting her mace up in preparation for battle, "Now I believe we have an Octopus to deal with. Want to team up?"

"Team up with two beautiful ladies to kick some bad guy butt? Do you really have to ask?" Spider-Man asked before giving a theatrical bow, "Let's be on our way, fair lady."

With those words the young man shot out a line of what looked like webbing from a spot on his wrist before swinging towards the main building of the complex. Taking to the air herself, she was soon joined by Anya, who took up a supportive aerial position herself as they followed their tentative teammate to where the Octopus guy supposedly was. Watching as the webhead made with the dramatic entrance through a skylight window of the main complex, she thought to Anya, telling her to enter via her Martian phase ability while she followed the kid through the skylight. She knew that the Martian woman would pick it up since that was a part of the training that the Bat had them do every second day when they weren't scheduled to patrol. As it turned out the Kryptonian ship they'd made into their HQ did have a simulation room that could act as their training room and the only thing they'd had to do was work on it for a day straight to reinforce the structural integrity of the room and install certain failsafe systems. Once the room was deemed fit for training, Giles had marched them inside and had them work on mastering their abilities and working together as a cohesive unit in the field. Some (yes, she was included in that) had protested about the training taking up so much of their free time but a stern look from Batman, who had really mastered that whole intimidation staring routine, had cowed even the most resistant of them.

Once she was inside she found Spider-man trying to help an injured technician, who looked to be alive but seriously hurt nonetheless. The rest of the building was a complete and utter disaster with fires and smashed up machines in just about every direction imaginable. This Octopus guy must have had one helluva temper tantrum here and was definitely not fooling around since her Thanagarian eyes could all too easily pick out still bodies amidst the trashed machines. The Slayer attributes that somehow survived the upgrades from Hawkgirl also allowed her to smell the death and destruction around her but, given what those senses were telling her, she almost wished that she just had normal human level senses.

She was just about to tell Spider-Man to help her get those still alive outside when the Slayer essence and battle sharpened instincts of Shayera Hol told her to vacate her current position immediately. It was a good thing too since a mental tentacle slammed into the concrete floor where she'd been, causing spider web cracks to form. She didn't have any more time than that to think before another metallic appendage struck out at her but, thankfully, the room was open enough that she could take to the air without having to worry too much. While she might have had limited options on the ground, in the air Hawkgirl's memories and skills made avoiding the twin tentacles wasn't half as difficult. It still wasn't a picnic but she would have a better chance of survival in the air. Looking back the way the tentacles were coming from, she saw a forty-something man wearing green spandex and had some sort of metal device wrapped around his waist, which was where the metal arms were coming from. Thankfully, though, his attention seemed to be split between her and the web slinger so each of them only had to deal with two arms at a time.

"Are you two of Hammer's freaks? Sent to kill me!?" the man asked angrily as he continued to fail to hit them.

"The only one doing any killing around here is you, Octopus man!" she said as she tried to find an approach vector she could use to get in close, "Now you have two choices: surrender or be defeated."

"I hope you'll understand, my dear, when I choose to see neither option as acceptable." Octopus man said with hostile politeness before he began to use his tentacles to throw debris at her.

This was not a favorable turn of events to put it lightly.

While she had been able to dodge his tentacles easily enough, the debris came in all shapes and sizes, making her evasive efforts all the more difficult to make. Add to that the fact that each missed projectile caused more damage to the surrounding area and she had to anticipate how each attack might effect the surrounding environment. They needed to take this guy down **now** and it'd be a lot easier if Anya would show up and give the guy wearing the shades one more problem to worry about.

_I aim to please! _Came the telepathic message before a ghost like form rose from the ground behind the Octopus man, _Get ready to move when I give you the opening._

_Right!_ She thought back waiting for the opening to appear.

The opening appeared one minute later when, like a life form made of some sort of liquid, Miss Martian wrapped around the Octopus man like a boa constrictor. This had to be the opening and she didn't hesitate to dive down as quick as she could while bringing a free hand back to deliver a calibrated punch. She didn't know what sort of connection this guy had to his metallic arms but, considering that she didn't see any sort of controls, she surmised that he must have some sort of mental connection with them. If that was indeed the case, she didn't want to cause the egghead any unnecessary harm by possibly causing some sort of neurological feedback if she destroyed his arms. Thus, the second she got within range, she delivered a right hook to the man's jaw and said a silent prayer of thanks that she didn't hear the sound of the guy's jaw breaking. When fighting vampires and demons, she never had to worry about how hard she hit them so long as they were dead in the end. As a member of this new Justice League, though, they'd be fighting humans mostly, with only the occasional threat that would need the power of her mace to bring down. Being a member of the league also meant that excessive force on an enemy was strictly forbidden since, while they were not police officers, they still had to obey similar rules of conduct when on the job. It'd only make getting the public to accept the League harder if the people saw them as a bunch of costumed thugs who brutalized the criminals they caught. Watching the man fall to the ground, she waited warily to see if he was truly down for the count or if he was going to come back to give her a few new bruises in return for the one she left on his jaw.

_You don't have anything to worry about._ Anya said as she finished retaking her standard 'Miss Martian' form, _He's completely unconscious._ _All that's left is to put some restraints on him, take him outside for all to see and then leave our calling cards behind._

_Right!_ She thought as she began to look for some cables or if necessary some I-beams to wrap the guy in.

"Remind me never to get you mad." Spider-Man said as he showed that his webbing could be used to tie people up as well as carry him around.

"Good advice. Thanagarians aren't exactly known for their restraint when they're pissed at someone." Anya said finally saying something out loud rather than in someone's head.

"Thanagarians?" Spider-Man asked sounding confused at the unfamiliar term.

_ANYA!!_ She thought loudly at the telepathic Martian, _Stick to the codenames! It'll be hard enough for him to understand why a woman has wings, never mind a female alien!!_

"It's just a pin prick sized country overseas called Thanagar. You probably wouldn't have heard of it." She said, quickly coming up with the most normal sounding reason.

"Oh." Was all the webhead said in response to her excuse.

"Now let's start getting people outside until the official rescue teams get here." She said as she went over to check the vitals of the man that Spider-Man had been examining earlier.

"Right!" Spider-Man said as he began to bounce around the place looking for survivors.

_Definitely not someone who should be given any sort of sugar._ She thought as she pictured what the guy would be like after wolfing down a grocery bag full of sweets.

_**Justice League Command Ship, Embarkation Room, Two Hours Later, Batman's P.O.V**_

"—can't believe they **shot** at us while we were getting the survivors out!" Hawkgirl, aka Buffy Hol, griped as she came through the gateway arch, "Didn't they care at all that there were innocents next to us?!"

"From what I was able to read from their minds, they thought that we were a pair of mutants and figured that was reason enough to open fire." Miss Martian replied even though it was probably a rhetorical question on Hawkgirl's part, "One of them even thought that we were working for Octopus all along and just decided to turn on him when he got out of hand. Idiots!!"

"I can just see the headlines tomorrow if anyone listens to those idiots!" Buffy growled before taking on a mocking reporter's voice, "MUTANT MONSTER BITCHES BETRAY EMPLOYER TO SAVE THEIR OWN UNNATURAL SKINS!! Make me wonder if diving in there was worth it to begin with!"

"It might have tipped us off to something we might have otherwise missed." He said, catching their attention in an instant with his Dark Knight voice, "Octavius might have had good reason for having a grudge against Hammer Industries. After I sent you in I began digging into the records on Justin Hammer and his company and what I found was troubling to say the least."

"This Hammer guy have some skeletons in his closet?" Buffy asked, her earlier temper having given way to her curiosity.

"Officially he's your typical C.E.O and a rival of Norman Osborn of Oscorp. They've fought over contracts both in the military as well more private sector deals." He replied mentally filtering out the information that would only cause him to lose his Slayer's attention, "However, I have uncovered files that indicate that Hammer may have chosen to break the Superhuman Test Ban Treaty."

"What's that?" Anya asked with actual interest.

"A little after the first mutants began to appear, it became something of a hot idea amongst the various businesses to come up with a way to give normal humans powers to combat them." He replied bringing up the information in his mind's eye, "However several groups protested these experiments and saw them as unethical as well as dangerous. After a few incidents involving test subjects who managed to escape containment and enter populated areas, most of the primary nations around the world signed a treaty forbidding further research in this area. However there is a belief going around that some of the more **ambitious** companies have continued with their experiments but have hidden them better in confusing paperwork as well as levels that aren't included in the blueprints of certain buildings."

"So you think Hammer sent this Octopus guy somewhere, screwed him over and so the guy came back for revenge?" Buffy asked, putting together the likely scenario in her head.

"That's one possibility. According to Octavius' employment records, he did work once for Hammer Industries before being bought by Osborn. Considering that the man was a person of some importance in his field, I find it hard to believe that Hammer would allow him to go to another company without a fight," he replied, forming scenarios and theories in his head. "It's more likely that Hammer let him go for the purpose of implanting a mole in Oscorp to steal secrets or sabotage one project or another. Octavius was involved in an explosion at Oscorp that put him in a coma until just a few days ago when he murdered the doctors taking care of him as well as the woman who'd bought his old home. Details on the accident are sketchy but, given the fields of those involved, it's likely that Norman Osborn was also attempting his own version of the Superhuman experiments."

"I'm guessing something screwy happened since you'd think that egghead would know better than to blow himself up." Buffy said clearly, not understanding that just become someone was a doctor didn't mean they were explosive experts or incapable of making a mistake.

"No evidence one way or another on that. In any case, if Justin Hammer is violating the Superhuman Test Ban Treaty, then we should look into it." He said as he turned to gather the tools he'd need to infiltrate the target building tonight, "Experiments like those have a nasty habit of going bad."

"So you plan on going someplace for a peek?" Buffy asked, sounding like she'd go with him if he needed back up.

"Yes, but I'll be taking Black Canary and Zatanna with me. They need more field time and their powers are less obvious to the naked eye than anyone else in the League." He replied without breaking stride even a bit, "Plus, between the knowledge I've gained from Batman and Willow's own skills with computers, we should be able to confirm any suspicions I have."

"Well, good luck with that. I'm going to get something to eat." Buffy said as she made her way towards the lift that'd take her to the ship's mess hall, "Slayer metabolism is even worse now that I got a set of wings on my back."

Blocking the rest of the female discussion out of his mind, he moved to where he knew that Willow and Tara would be so he could inform them of the mission they'd be going on in about five hours.

Looking through the photographic memory he possessed, he recalled precisely what the duo had been doing since this morning. It had always been one of the side objectives since arriving in this new reality that they'd try to create civilian lives for themselves that didn't involve their costumed alter egos. Even though they'd all agreed to become a part of the Justice League, each of them desired to have a normal life they could retreat to when needed rather than just using a portal to come back to the ship. However, creating civilian lives that had detail and could pass examination by the various intelligence agencies around the world was not a simple task that could be finished in a single night. They had to verify each part to see if there were any iffy facts that could lead to their own downfall. If all the police, intelligence agencies and governments had to do was actually visit one of the locations mentioned and speak with the people there to find out it was all a lie, then what was the point? Once they finished a rough draft of a past for one of them, he personally went down to the locations mentioned and spoke with the people there to see how their recollections of the dates mentioned were and find out if there were any dangerous people there with excellent memories. If the people who lived there had sketchy memories and there was no paper trail that could ruin the cover stories, then the false past was accepted. However if he found so much as a single person who could remember precisely who was present at a certain event or attended a certain school or who worked at a certain business, then that part of the cover story was erased.

So far they had working cover stories for Dawn and Xander but the rest of them still had to wait until a few wrinkles in their back stories was ironed out.

When he entered the room, he could see both Tara and Willow planted behind their consoles with a holographic representation of A.V.I.A floating nearby to no doubt render assistance if necessary. Tara looked a little tired but Willow, as always, seemed to find the whole effort invigorating but, thankfully, had not been permitted any coffee as of yet. While the former redhead may have inherited a number of traits from Zatanna Zatara, she was still primarily Willow Rosenberg and so often got a little hyper when researching or using computers. When given sugar or something similar, though, she got a little out of hand and it was by unanimous decision of the Scooby gang that they would not let her have coffee or sweets unless absolutely necessary. A.V.I.A was aware of this rule and, while the artificial intelligence didn't quite understand, she agreed to adhere to this rule and as such automatically locked out those substances from the replicators when Willow got near one.

"How is your work proceeding?" he asked as the door slid closed behind him.

"The updated versions of the remaining back stories are almost ready for your review." A.V.I.A replied, rotating in the air until she faced him fully, "After observing your efforts and examining the finished versions for Superman and Wonder Girl, I believe I can help in assuring that the remaining ones will pass inspection by Earth's inhabitants."

"You'll have to do it on your own for tonight. Willow, Tara, you're coming with me to investigate Hammer Industries' Medical Facilities for signs that they are illegally performing Superhuman experiments." He explained as he walked over to the main console and brought up the information on the building they'd be infiltrating, "We leave in two hours. Be in the embarkation by then."

With that he turned around and left the room. He knew he was being a bit short with the girls and sadly this was due to Bruce Wayne's influence. The man was married, almost obsessed with his mission, to the point where he neglected every part of his life that didn't somehow contribute to his cause. He'd done everything he could to limit how much influence Bruce had over his behavior and beliefs but it wasn't easy to say the least. It was especially difficult when he wore the Batman outfit but he just handled it like he did his inner Ripper, though this could have turned out to be a mistake on his part. Batman wasn't some teenage rebellion persona that he used to be but rather an identity that Bruce Wayne had created specifically to prey upon the cowardly nature that all criminals had at their core. Something one slid into but repressed was easier to deal with than something that had been carefully constructed and thought out. He would have to redouble his efforts in making sure that he remained who he truly was and didn't fall into the same traps that kept Bruce Wayne all alone with nothing but his mission to keep him warm at night.

_I will __**not**__ let myself go down that road! _He thought as he went to the armory to begin loading up on the tools and gear he would need in order to infiltrate Hammer's Medical Facility, _Plenty of other costumed heroes managed to successfully lead double lives without any trouble and I've been leading a double life myself as both Watcher and high school librarian. I will make it happen!_

He'd already made some inquiries on that part and had made partial progress.

Jenny was **alive** here!

Alive and apparently still undercover for some reason that he had yet to uncover.

He had managed to confirm by following paper trails and the like to prove that she did indeed have strong ties to the Kalderash gypsy tribe of this world. However, when he tried to look up information on vampires, Angelus in particular, he could find nothing either online or via trips to Earth to look through records that weren't digitally stored. He'd even used his knowledge as a Watcher to seek out the lesser known stores and taverns where the more supernatural and magically inclined community tended to frequent but, aside from news on the current Sorcerer Supreme and a dhampyre named Blade, he learned nothing. A part of him merely wanted to go down to the planet and go to her immediately and woo her until she was his but another insisted that he investigate her further before committing to anything. Both his own mind and the part of him that was Bruce Wayne however knew that even if you encountered someone in a parallel reality that looked precisely like someone you knew, it didn't mean that the mind or soul within would match as well. For all he knew she was secretly just as bad as Snyder or Travers. With a sigh of annoyance he realized that he had no choice but to wait until he had more facts to work with on her before even thinking about approaching her.

No matter what his heart was yelling at him to do.

_**Across the Street From Hammer Industries Medical Facility, Two and a Half Hours Later**_

_**Zatanna aka Willow Zatara's P.O.V**_

"Is security what the files said it would be?" Zatanna asked as she cast her gaze across the street to their objective.

She was dressed in her superheroine outfit, complete with large domino mask in order to keep her identity a secret. It may have been safe in the DC universe for Zatanna to walk around without a mask this world was another thing altogether. Here the mainstream population was suspicious of people with powers and only those that were approved by the government or had powers grounded in science. As such a magic user like herself wouldn't go over well and she'd probably be pegged as a mutant. Not a good thing, especially with all the things she'd found out on the mutant issue since they'd arrived in this dimension. It was horrible to see how the normal humans were vilifying and demonizing people born with the x-gene but, then again, mutants weren't exactly models of good behavior either. Most seemed to want to just live normal lives like Buffy did back home but then there were a few that seemed to think that their powers gave them the right to do whatever they wanted. Between the two sides using arrogance and hate to fuel their actions, it was difficult for anyone born with a special talent or ability to get by without getting some sort of trouble. So she'd endure the itching sensation the liquid adhesive was causing since it was that substance that was keeping her mask on.

"A little higher thanks to the attack by Octavius but nothing we can't deal with." Batman replied as he lowered the mini-binoculars from her eyes, "Zatanna? You're up."

"Got it. Ekam su elbisivni ot lla taht sees, sraeh dna sllems!" she encanted, casting a spell that should allow them to make it past most conventional forms of detection like cameras, dogs and people.

If Hammer had some more… unconventional methods for detecting intruders, then they'd have to adapt to the situations as they came. Sprinting across the street, they each made it over the fence either by using their own body's strength or by employing basic levitation magic to allow them to leap higher. Once on the other side they made for the side entrance that they'd labeled as their entry point. It took the Dark Knight less than a minute to circumvent the keypad system by the door and, once they were inside, the spell she'd cast minutes ago was proven effective as a guard passed right by them without so much as batting an eye. Still, they all did their best to not leave any trace of their passing as they proceeded to the central mainframe room where all of the servers and storage hard drives were kept. They'd considered simply finding the office of the top dog and using his computer but Giles vetoed that idea on the grounds that they'd need privacy and he didn't want any unexpected arrivals interfering. There were a lot of twists and turns, as well as a few elevators, but eventually they arrived at their target to find two find two armed guards standing outside the door of the room they wanted. Two guards who definitely weren't the stereotypical rent-a-cops who slacked off on the job because they thought that no one would ever make it down this far. No, these were the guards who took their jobs seriously and would never slip up or slack off on purpose so long as they paycheck cleared in the end.

Their dedication didn't save them in the end, though.

With a gentle roll Giles sent two spheres rolling towards the guards and knockout gas gushed out six feet into the air in three directions. The duo of guards only had time to look surprised before they dropped to the ground unconscious in undignified heaps.

"C'mon. Just because they don't have security cameras down here doesn't mean we're safe. When these two don't check in the ones upstairs will know something is up." Batman said as he went to work on the security measures on the door to the room.

These locks and security measures were significantly more difficult than anything they'd encountered up until now but that wasn't surprising, considering how important the contents of the room were. However, with the tools in his utility belt, he managed to unlock the room and rig the security devices so that no one aside from them would know that anything was the matter. With a combination of speed and stealth they entered the room and immediately went to the main access terminal before removing the mini-terminals from their backs and connecting them via fire wire cables. They all knew their objectives: Giles would look for files specifically centered around Otto Octavius and Oscorp, Tara would look for client records to see who Hammer had done business with and she would look for the files on possible superhuman experiments. They knew that these files would be seriously encrypted and protected with all the best codes and security programs, since it'd mean the end of Hammer Industries if this information ever got out. So, for the time being, they'd focus on accessing and downloading the files they believed contained the information they wanted. It would take too long for them to decrypt and decode everything here so the best they could do was transfer the files to their mini-terminals and then leave for the ship. They'd take a look at what they had there and then pull what they could from it as soon as possible because it was a no brainer that Hammer would know there'd been illegal access to his systems one way or another. They didn't have time to cover their tracks that thoroughly. The best they could manage was to arrange things so that it'd take until morning before anyone would suspect something was up. Oh, they'd find the guards sooner but it would take thorough examination of the system by professionals to find signs of their handiwork.

It took about twenty minutes to find the files they sought and then another ten to download them all without any problems. Once done they did their best to put things back to where they were before the trio had entered the room in the first place and then quietly began to follow their established escape route back to the surface. They had almost reached the western storage area when they spotted a man clad in commando gear as well as a few other customized tools whose purposes couldn't be ascertained by looks alone.

It also looked like the guy knew they were there despite her spell.

"I know you're there. Show yourself." The man said with southern accent.

"Release the spell on me alone." Batman ordered as he passed his mini-terminal to Black Canary.

"But why? We can sneak by him!" she said, not able to understand why Giles would want to confront this guy.

"No we can't. If he knows we're here then all the entrances are likely under guard." Batman stated, raising himself to his full height, "If I reveal myself now it might be enough to get them to focus their efforts on me and leave an opening for you two to escape. Don't call for an embarkation door until you're well clear of the compound."

"But--!" she tried to protest as her mind rebelled against the idea of leaving Giles to fend for himself.

"NOW!" Batman ordered in a way that seriously sent a pulse of fear through her.

In the end she knew that she had little choice in the matter so with a sigh said "Fine. Esaeler namtaB morf eht lleps."

Less than a second later she knew that this unknown man could now see Batman and so waited with Tara for an opening to appear for them to make a break for it.

"Nice outfit." The man stated with a bit of contempt, "Also I have to compliment you on your cloaking system. Better than anything the R&D boys have come up with so far. Still, you should have been more thorough with the security system. Now normally trespassers who get this far and get caught are simply shaken down for whatever they might have found and then turned over to the cops. However, since that Octavius freak attacked the alternative energy dome, Mr. Hammer is in one of his moods so he's raised the bar a bit: terminate then dispose. Bad luck, isn't it?"

"Yes. For you." Was all Giles said before charging the man head on.

Before the unknown person could draw a weapon, Rupert Wayne had closed to close quarters range and then the fight was on between the two of them. It was something to see from an observer's point of view, since it seemed that this new guy was pretty good at hand-to-hand combat, but she had a feeling that Giles was leading the fight with every move. As soon as she thought that, he delivered a punch-kick combo that sent the man tumbling down the hallway away from their entry point. Waiting until she was sure that Giles and the other guy were too busy fighting each other to notice anything, she grabbed Tara by the hand and took her through the door to the western storage area. Once inside they immediately went for the door that would lead to the loading dock, since from there they'd have a clear line of sight with the gate that was their exit point.

When they stepped outside though, they saw something that didn't look to be of the good at all. Sometime after they entered the building some sort of mist had spread across the complex grounds. Looking around, she discovered that it was artificial in nature as it was coming up from vents in the ground and while she couldn't figure out why Hammer Industries had done this she knew it put a crimp in their escape plan. Her spell kept them hidden from the sense of sight, smell and hearing but if they moved through the mist their passing would disturb it exposing their presence. She could try to fly them out of there but who knew what sort of systems that would trigger. Still she could see no other way to get out of the complex without disturbing the mist.

"Grab onto me, Canary." She said and once the blonde did so she chanted, "Cigam tfil su otni eht yks."

With those words, a glow surrounded her and Tara before both of them were lifted into the air by an unseen energy with her guiding the direction they were going in with her wand. However, just as she was about to reach a height that would allow her and Tara to clear the fence, she felt something painful hit her right shoulder. She didn't know if it was a bullet or not but did know that the only reason she was only feeling brief pain rather than the prolonged kind was because her costume had been reinforced by Batman on the ship with various bullet and energy proof materials while still looking like an off the rack outfit. Still, it meant that either a guard was firing randomly or they had been detected despite the spell of concealment still being in place. This was proving bothersome to her since it meant that either she needed to train herself harder to master Zatanna's powers or magic wasn't nearly as effective against science as she'd thought. In any case, she had to choose whether to make a break for it and risk making their presence all the more apparent or continue on in the belief that it was just a lucky shot from a random guard that hit her.

She chose to err on the side of caution and channeled more magic into her flight spell so that they could leave the Hammer Industries complex as quickly as possible. This, however, caused more shots to ring out and confirm that somehow they were detectable to the guards of this facility and so she did her best to perform evasive maneuvers, even though they weren't her forte. While Zatanna could fly, she didn't do it often or do much training with it like those who naturally got around by flying through the air and, while she had tried to improve in this area, she was still something of an amateur. As such, when they'd almost reached the fence, a shot rang out and hit her in the leg where the protective material that made up her outfit was weakest, piercing it and causing blood to flow. It also had the unintended side effect of breaking her concentration, causing her cloaking spell to shatter and her flying spell to barely remain intact enough to get both her and Tara safely to the ground. Sadly this made them all too visible to the guards and men with guns started swarming them from all sides. She tried to think of a spell she could use but wondered at how effective they would be given that one of her more impressive spells had been seen through by science.

In the end she didn't need to choose.

Tara chose for her.

With a sonic scream her lover knocked the approaching guards from their feet, with most of them not getting back up again even after the Canary Cry was no longer being directed at them. However she could tell from where she was that they were still alive by the groans she heard from some and the signs of breathing that she could detect. While the Canary Cry had the potential to shatter concrete and steel, it could also be tempered to only render living things unconscious. That was the obvious case here and, once the guards were all down, Black Canary turned around and unleashed her Canary Cry on the gate, tearing it to pieces leaving them a clear path to safety. With Tara's help she was able to get back to her feet and between the two of them they soon left the Hammer Industries complex a good five blocks behind before calling for the embarkation room arch.

"You do realize that thanks to that little screw up back there Batman is going to bully us into extra training, right?" Tara asked as they walked towards the golden curtain that was the event horizon of the gateway.

"Of course, but at least I'll have a few days before I get tossed into it." She said with a sneaky smile on her face, "Can't very well train with an injured leg, now, can I?"


End file.
